As a rookie, Caitlin Clark is already one of the best passers in WNBA history. She broke the record for most assists in a game with 19 and the single-season record for total assists in her 38th game of the year.
That individual acclaim hasn't come without controversy.
The legitimacy of Clark's assists has come under question on social media, where some users have pointed out examples of questionable scorekeeping.
Call me a hater if you want but this is not an assist https://t.co/WOaDpuZUDL
— Nick Andre (@NickAndreATR) September 14, 2024
How valid are those criticisms? I went through all of Clark's assists, along with assists for some other players in the WNBA. Here's how she does and does not benefit from scorekeeping bias.
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Does Caitlin Clark benefit from fake assists?
Let's get this out of the way immediately — the vast majority of Clark's assists are unquestionably legitimate. You can skim through them yourself and see. With that in mind, if you parse through all 300-plus of them, there are bound to be a handful of questionable ones.
Here are a few examples:
Should these passes be classified as assists?
The WNBA's definition of an assist is stated on their stats page as "a pass that leads directly to a basket." There's some room for interpretation there, and it's fair to classify some of Clark's as falling into a gray area where people's opinions may differ.
The important part is that all basketball players record these types of gray-area assists. That includes previous record-holder Alyssa Thomas, who had these count towards her then-record 316 assist total last season:
The real question is, does Clark benefit more than other players from those subjective assists?
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The NBA's history of boosting assist totals
It's been somewhat of an open secret that John Stockton, the NBA's all-time leader in assists, did benefit from a friendly home scorekeeper and generous scorekeeping during the 90s.
As one former NBA scorekeeper told the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" show, stats crews were trained both by their teams and the league to "support or reinforce stars, and excitement, and fun." That meant giving players the benefit of the doubt when an assist could be credited and padding Stockton's stats, even if shots came after multiple dribbles and pump-fakes.
Torre isn't the first person to investigate this issue. Years ago, Deadspin spoke to an anonymous NBA scorekeeper who admitted that "teams have a legitimate, vested interest in stats being inflated, just like the league does...Ten assists is way more interesting than eight assists. As humans, those are more appealing and interesting numbers. The NBA benefits and every team benefits from bigger, flashier numbers."
As that scorekeeper noted, "an assist is a pass leading directly to a basket. That’s inherently subjective. What does that really mean in practice? The definition is massively variable according to who you talk to."
That scorekeeper decided to see how far he could really push things, giving Nick Van Exel 23 assists in a game. He thought that he would get reprimanded. Instead, he was praised by the team's management because the game was sure to get on SportsCenter now.
MORE: These are the passes that make Caitlin Clark special
Things have changed since the 90s, particularly due to the influx of gambling and single-game parlays. Statistics are looked at much more closely. Case in point, one of Clark's gray area assists from last week was rescinded after the completion of the game.
Caitlin Clark had 18 points and 9 assists last night, but the @WNBA scorekeeper took this assist away from her. Can anyone spot a reason why this isn't the 10th assist of the game? I mean did she not hit Temi w/ the pass in the post, and Temi never lost possession. So anyone? pic.twitter.com/G1u38ogrQj
— Mily (@DayDreamThis) September 14, 2024
Clark also doesn't benefit in the same way that Stockton and others did. Utah's scorekeeper was notorious for padding Stockton's stats. He averaged 0.8 more assists per game at home than on the road. Clark averages just 0.1 more assists at home.
If the Clark assists conspiracy is legitimate, then her fake assists would have to be a league-wide phenomenon.
| Location | PPG | RPG | APG |
| Home | 20.9 | 6.2 | 8.5 |
| Away | 18.1 | 5.2 | 8.4 |
Clark still does probably benefit from some assists that could go either way, but so does everyone. I'd estimate that between 5 and 10 percent of her passes were in that gray zone. That is the same that I'd estimate for Thomas during her record-breaking 2023 season (you can skim hers as well and see for yourself). Even taking those gray area assists away, both players are still generating hundreds of made baskets for their teammates that are rock-solid.
The bottom line is Clark is a brilliant passer who would probably have the record for assists even if you gave everyone in the league's history the stingiest scorekeepers possible. Her hit-ahead passing, manipulation of double-teams and fantastic court vision speak for themselves.
