The Washington Mystics used their scheduled season finale against the Indiana Fever to pull off a stunt that produced record attendance, despite being one of the worst teams in the league this year.
On Thursday, Caitlin Clark and the Fever finished the season in Washington, D.C., so the Mystics made the marketing-savvy decision to move the game to a larger venue: Capital One Arena, home of the NBA's Washington Wizards.
Washington normally plays at The Entertainment and Sports Arena, which is located in Congress Heights, a residential neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C. It has a capacity of just 4,200.
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But Capital One Arena, located in the Chinatown section of the city's larger Penn Quarter, has a maximum capacity of 20,356 for basketball games.
The Mystics had no trouble filling those seats with Clark in town, despite having just 13 wins entering the game.
The 20,711 fans in attendance Thursday marked a new record for the largest-attended WNBA regular-season game. The record broke the previous regular-season record of 20,674, which Washington reached four times during the 1998 and 1999 seasons.
The best part for the Mystics was that fans there got to see the home team pull off a 92-91 victory over Clark's Fever.
The Las Vegas Aces did something similar when they hosted the Fever at the larger T-Mobile Arena for a game on July 2 instead of playing at the relatively smaller Michelob ULTRA Arena. For that game, 20,366 fans showed up, which was the largest attendance for a single regular-season game since 1999.
However, it almost didn't happen for the Mystics. Clark was just one technical foul away from earning a one-game suspension this year. In the Fevers' most recent game against the Dallas Wings, Clark was on the verge of receiving her seventh technical foul of the season, which would have meant a one-game suspension for the rookie.
During the game, Clark was walking on the court after losing the ball. He watched the replay and immediately began swearing at the referee. Kelsey Mitchell put her arm out to stop Clark from walking toward the referee, while Aliyah Boston pushed Clark away and yelled “No” to prevent a technical foul.
By avoiding a seventh technical foul, Clark was able to draw a crowd of fans to watch her play in Washington on Thursday night.
Clark's record-setting season finale is a fitting end to a historic season in which the rookie seemed to break many other records.
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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reaches for the ball during a game against the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Grace Hollars/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Clark's performance Thursday gave her the record for most points by a point guard in a single season in WNBA history. Clark already held the record for most points by a rookie and the league's single-season record for assists.
As the single-season record holder and league leader in assists this year, Clark is the youngest player to lead the league in assists.
Clark also led the league in 3-pointers this year and had the second-most all-time in a single season with 122.
On top of that, she broke the record for most All-Star votes for any player in WNBA history and became the first rookie to record a triple-double.
The attention and performance Clark has given the Fever has led the team to the playoffs for the first time in eight years, as one of the most popular teams in the league. The WNBA's 14 most-watched games this year all featured the Fever.
Two of Clark's teammates talked about how different it was to play with Clark this year, because of the vibe and visibility of the team.
Point guard Kelsey Mitchell told reporters before Thursday's game that she didn't think the public would know much about her if it weren't for Clark, adding that she was used to a more introverted approach to her job.
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Dallas Wings guard Jacy Sheldon (4) defends Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) in the first half of a WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
“I think the reality is I don't think people would know without 'C squared' (Clark's nickname), so shout out to Caitlin,” Mitchell said when asked about getting more attention and more fans this season.
“She's done an amazing job of attracting her own fans and people who support her, but, for me, I kind of laugh at it and embrace it at the same time because I've always been a bit of a low-profile person. I've always been a very conservative person, very introverted, so now I can see the other side of that.
Meanwhile, guard Erica Wheeler told reporters that Clark's presence this season has caused the team to need to be more resilient to scrutiny.
“All we do is have fun with Caitlin Clark, who never takes anything seriously,” Wheeler said. “I always tell people that she's a kid at heart… There are times when we have to be serious, and we are, but most of the time we're having fun. Because you have to understand that the outside world was trying to get into this building. We didn't allow it.”
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