Caitlin Clark (Photo via @iam_johnw/Twitter)
Diana Taurasi is probably thinking: “I told you so,” now that Caitlin Clark has played her first competitive game in the WNBA.

The Phoenix Mercury star endured some backlash after sounding a warning out to Clark and the new rookie class while speaking to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt a few weeks ago.

“Look, SVP, reality is coming,” she said. “There’s levels to this thing. That’s just life. We all went through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side. You look superhuman playing against some 18 years olds but you’re going to come play with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.”

It appears Taurasi knew what she was talking about. The Connecticut Sun did not allow Caitlin to waltz through her debut, although she scored a game-high 20 points, the second-most for a WNBA debutant since Tamika Catchings scored 23 in her first game for the Fever in 2022.

Clark went 5-for-15 from the field and 4-for-11 from three, also committing 10 turnovers, the most for a rookie since Betty Lennox recorded 11 in 2000.

Caitlin Clark’s “Welcome To The NBA” Moment

The first 20 minutes of Caitlin Clark’s debut were hard to watch. She scored seven points on 2-for-7 shooting, adding five turnovers and two fouls, both of which came in the first five minutes.

She also got a “welcome to the WNBA” moment when an opposing player stiffly challenged her on a layup attempt, sending her crashing to the floor with a hard foul.

Check it out below:

She got up with some help from her teammates, hitting both of the resulting free throws thereafter.

“I thought it took me a little while to settle into the game,” she said, per NBC. “I thought the second half was a lot better minus some of the turnovers.”

It turns out that both she and Taurasi lost their opening games.

Clark and the Fever will play their next game against the New York Liberty this Thursday.