Caitlin Clark triple-double vs. Sky: Fever star notches third career triple-double after late return in blowout win

Caitlin Clark started her second WNBA season off with a bang, recording the third triple-double of her career, but it was not without controversy.

Before reaching the statistical milestone in the Fever's 35-point win over the Sky, things got testy when Clark was whistled for a Flagrant 1 after a hard foul on Chicago's Angel Reese. The foul occurred as Indiana began to pull away in the third, and that trend accelerated after cooler heads prevailed.

Unsurprisingly, all eyes were on Clark in Saturday's season opener, and despite a relatively slow start, she found her rhythm to enter the final frame with 14 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.

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In the fourth, Clark added six points, two rebounds and three assists to her tally to notch a triple-double, but first-year Fever head coach Stephanie White went out of her way to ensure the franchise's player reached the milestone.

Here's more on Clark's triple-double on Saturday.

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Caitlin Clark's triple-double vs. Sky

While Clark finished the game with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, she didn't notch the triple-double until late in the win.

In fact, Clark needed one more rebound when she subbed out of the game with 6:03 remaining in regulation. Indiana held a 77-51 lead at the time.

Less than two minutes later, Clark urged her coach to substitute her back into the game to get that final rebound, per the ABC broadcast. White re-inserted Clark with 4:24 remaining and the Fever holding an 81-51 lead in the game.

It took another two minutes for Clark to pull down her 10th rebound as she notched the triple-double with 2:22 remaining in the game and the game well out of reach as Indiana led, 85-56.

She was taken out seven seconds later.

Despite the circumstances around the triple-double, another former No. 1 overall pick who knows a thing or two about the statistical milestone took time out to react.

TRIPLE DUB CC!! Great way to kick off the season! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

With the milestone, Clark moves up on the all-time leaderboard, tying all-time great Candace Parker with three career triple-doubles. Clark still has a ways to go to reach first all-time, as Mercury star Alyssa Thomas will look to add to her first-place tally during the 2025 season.

MORE: How the Fever built a title contender in 2025

Caitlin Clark career triple-doubles

Clark has recorded three triple-doubles in her WNBA career.

It took nearly two months of her rookie season but the first triple-double of Year 2 came in the season opener. While she did not have as many rebound opportunities, Clark had several potential assists, which would indicate that she will likely be in line to record more triple-doubles in 2025.

Here are the three triple-doubles of Clark's career:

MORE: Caitlin Clark records triple-double in season opener vs. Sky

Most triple-doubles in WNBA history

The WNBA has seen just 37 triple-doubles in the regular season and 43 total, per Across the Timeline.

Of those, 11 regular-season and 15 total triple-doubles have come from Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas. Thomas, 33, towers over the rest of the leaderboard, as no other player has more than four.