The WNBA had been riding a wave unlike anything it had ever seen before. Sold-out arenas, record-breaking TV ratings, and headlines declaring the arrival of a new era. At the center of it all was Caitlin Clark, the 23-year-old phenom whose dazzling range and infectious charisma had single-handedly changed the way people talked about women’s basketball. But in one horrifying instant, everything shifted.
