The Indiana Fever will play their final preseason game tonight (May 9) as they take on the Atlanta Dream at 6 p.m.

Caitlin Clark has already impacted the Indiana Fever's televised games in their 2024 season and she hasn't played in a regular season game yet. With the arrival of Caitlin Clark and multiple big-name female college basketball players to the WNBA, there will be more WNBA games televised than ever before.

Not only has Caitlin Clark and this batch of new WNBA talent helped promote the league more than ever before, but they're also impacting the league's power rankings before they've played in a regular season game.

In Caitlin Clark's preseason debut, she had no problem putting up 21 points with plenty of shots from beyond the 3-point line. It's not really surprising Indiana has shot up the WNBA rankings already.

Indiana Fever Power Rankings

Caitlin has participated in a preseason game but she hasn't played a single minute in a WNBA game that counts. The experts who select the WNBA power rankings appear to not care. Last season, the Indiana Fever finished the season in 10th out of 12 teams.

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Before the Indiana Fever opens the regular season on May 14th, they've already seen a boost in the WNBA rankings. According to Yahoo Sports, the Indiana Fever has jumped to the 8th spot before the season starts.

2024 Playoffs?

Sports fans know that beginning of the season power rankings mean very little. The only thing that matters at the end of the season is wins and losses. Plenty of teams in every sport are projected to have incredible seasons, only to flounder off to the middle or bottom of the pack. It happens in football, baseball, NBA basketball, etc. At the end of the day, power rankings don't mean a da** thing.

It's still exciting to see how much optimism one of Iowa's favorite athletes is already bringing to her new team. ESPN's Michael Voepel believes the developing chemistry between Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and NaLyssa Smith could help lead the Fever back to the WNBA playoffs, which should be the goal for the Indiana Fever. He told Yahoo Sports

"Will this be the season the Fever make it back to the playoffs? That's the primary goal for Indiana after adding Caitlin Clark to go along with last year's number 1 pick, forward Aliyah Boston, and 2022's number 2 selection, forward NaLyssa Smith. Clark had 21 points in Fever's exhibition opener and looked comfortable in her first pro appearance. The developing chemistry between her and the young posts is something to watch."

Caitlin Clark received plenty of attention during her time at the University of Iowa. Now that she's playing against other professional athletes, you can bet the Indiana Fever basketball team will be followed more closely than ever before.

Will the Indiana Fever continue to climb the WNBA power rankings? If Caitlin looks as comfortable as she did in her first taste of professional sports, you can imagine the Fever is in for an exciting new era of basketball.