The records keep on coming for Indiana Fever rookie guard Caitlin Clark.

Having already broken the record for most assists in a single game and assists by a rookie in their debut season, Clark set the WNBA single-season assists record Friday against the Las Vegas Aces.

Clark needed four assists to tie the prior record (316), which Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas set last season. Clark broke the record in the second quarter when she found Kelsey Mitchell, who drained a 3 pointer. Clark finished with nine assists as the Fever lost 78-74 to the Aces, bringing her total to 321 on the season.

That another single-season record fell on Friday night was fitting. On Wednesday night, when the Fever and Aces matched up for the first time this week, Las Vegas star A’ja Wilson set a new single-season points mark. Countless other WNBA records have been reset over the last two seasons since the regular season expanded to 40 games.

“You’re just going to continue to see records be taken down, but also I think really good basketball, and that’s why it’s been so fun to watch,” Clark said postgame when asked about the records broken in the WNBA this season.

When the WNBA began in 1997, the season was 28 games long. The next year it was 30 games, then the year after that, 32, which lasted through 2002. The regular season had 34 games from 2003 to 2019. Courtney Vandersloot tallied 300 assists in 2019 and had a record of 258 in 2018, but before those two standout seasons, a player hadn’t recorded more than 250 assists since 2000. Ticha Penicheiro, who had the prior single-season rookie assist record, recorded 236 assists in 2000.

The moment Caitlin Clark broke the WNBA single-season assists record 👏#IONWNBA | @IndianaFever pic.twitter.com/CvddhlLBpG

— WNBA on ION (@IONWNBA) September 14, 2024

Clark has set countless other records this season. She recorded the first triple-double for a rookie in WNBA history in early July against the New York Liberty. In late August, she set the rookie 3-point single-season record against the Atlanta Dream. Clark became the first rookie in WNBA history to record 400 points, 100 rebounds and 150 assists in a season, and she has recorded the most 15-point 5-assist games in a season.

She could make more history, too, including the rookie scoring record for points in a season, a mark set by Seimone Augustus in 2006 when she scored 744 points — albeit in 34 games.

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As notable as any individual statistics, Indiana entered Friday night’s contest having won eight of its last 11 games, with the best offensive rating of any team in the league since the All-Star break. After a 2-9 start, the Fever have also climbed to the No. 6 seed in the playoffs. They have already clinched a playoff berth — their first since 2016 — and could finish with their first winning season since 2015, when they made the WNBA Finals.

“It’s definitely a big moment for this place, but at the same time, I came in with the expectation this was going to happen,” Clark said of guiding Indiana back to the postseason. “For me, this isn’t a party. It’s great, I feel like it’s a great accomplishment, but there’s much more left to be done.”

Required reading

(Photo: Justin Casterline / NBAE via Getty Images)

It was the scene none of us wanted to see: Tua Tagovailoa incapacitated on the football field after another collision and blow to the head.

But there we found ourselves late Thursday night, watching in fear of the Miami Dolphins quarterback’s well-being as medical personnel tended to him after his third-quarter scramble and collision with Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Immediately, memories and mental images of Tagovailoa’s 2022 concussions rushed back.

The heart-stopping fear that his family members must have experienced at that moment is hard to fathom. But everyone from current to former NFL players, fans and anyone in between sympathized.

Tagovailoa eventually was helped to his feet, and he limped off the field under his own power. Just before the quarterback reached the sideline, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel had a brief word with his player, “I told him he’s the starting quarterback of his family, and to ‘Go in the locker room, take a deep breath and I’ll see you soon.’” With that, McDaniel kissed Tagovailoa on the head and turned him over to the trainers, who ushered him to the locker room for evaluation.

.@KayleeHartung provides an update on Tua Tagovailoa. pic.twitter.com/hiEnuq9ISC

— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) September 13, 2024

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McDaniel’s emotions were impossible to hide for the remainder of the game and during his postgame news conference. McDaniel immediately fielded questions about how the Dolphins would approach Tagovailoa’s recovery, but he said only that he expected Tagovailoa to go through extensive evaluations on Friday, and that the Dolphins would then approach the situation and the quarterback’s care “one day at a time.”

Now faced with how to handle their quarterback after a third known concussion in three seasons, Dolphins leadership finds itself in an extremely difficult position. It must wait to learn how this latest concussion will impact the 26-year-old quarterback and then grapple with the decision of when/if he should return to the field.

The Dolphins and their doctors no doubt will work hard to avoid a repeat of 2022, when Tagovailoa seemingly was allowed to return to action prematurely and then sustained at least one other concussion. (Those decisions sparked a joint investigation by the NFL and NFL Players Association’s medical examiners.)

If you recall, it was Week 3 of that 2022 season when Tagovailoa sustained a blow that left him stumbling and struggling to maintain his balance after an injury that the Dolphins classified as a back injury, although something about that diagnosis always felt off. Tagovailoa started the following game before eventually sustaining a sack that caused his back and back of his helmet to hit the ground. Tagovailoa’s body involuntarily went into the fencing response before he was taken off the field on a stretcher. Then in Week 16, Tagovailoa sustained another concussion and missed the final two regular-season games and Miami’s playoff game.

If the Dolphins learned anything from that Week 3 and 4 sequence, it’s that medical exams and league-mandated protocols aren’t always as all-encompassing or as foolproof as one would hope. So this time measures that may even seem extreme are required as they navigate this latest brain injury recovery with their quarterback.

Almost immediately after Tagovailoa’s injury Thursday night, social media erupted with opinions from former players, including Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who covered the game for Amazon Prime, and fans who suggested that Tagovailoa should retire — never playing football again. The risk of the quarterback returning to action and suffering another (and possibly more devastating) concussion seems to far outweigh the rewards of a continued playing career, they believe.

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It’s not so simple, however. How do you tell a young man that he’s unfit for work? How do you tell him that he can no longer live his dream?

Tagovailoa certainly has proved he’s capable of playing at an elite level. He led the NFL in passing yards last season and had gotten off to another prolific start in Week 1. But his injury history suggests that his body isn’t designed to hold up under the rigors of this violent game.

There’s a fine line between supporting a player while allowing him to live his life and make his decisions and protecting a player from himself. Determining where that differentiating line falls is painfully complicated and perhaps impossible to determine.

Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing yards last season and was the league’s leader through Week 1 of this season. (Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)

It’s an unenviable position for the Dolphins, who earlier this summer agreed to a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension with the quarterback. The deal is the last thing on anyone in the organization’s minds at this time. Protecting and supporting a member of their family in hopes he returns to full health and maintains the ability to lead a quality life tops their priority list.

The Dolphins can’t abide by the usual return-to-play concussion protocol, which entails daily monitoring and benchmarks and a gradual ramp-up of physical activity and potential clearance for game action by the end of the same week.

It seems like the Dolphins’ doctors should mandate extensive and the most sophisticated testing possible to learn as much about Tagovailoa’s brain and recovery process before they let him set foot anywhere so much as a treadmill. The problem is that concussion-related brain damage is often difficult to detect even with the most modern forms of technology. But extreme care is needed, even if the quarterback is no longer exhibiting concussion symptoms.

For now, it’s far too early to know what the recovery timeline looks like. McDaniel said Friday that he didn’t even know if the Dolphins would place the quarterback on injured reserve (a minimum of four games) to ensure he doesn’t attempt to rush back.

“I literally will not know any sort of anything either way, because, again, that’s how we’re operating, as though we know nothing — because we don’t,” the coach said. “The driving force behind any sort of move — let’s say playing anytime, let’s say IR, whatever those things are — the absolute most important opinion is that of the most important person in this whole equation: Tua. His opinion of what he wants to do with his life and his career, coupled with the experts in neuroscience — those are the driving forces behind those actions. … I’m not hiding anything. I’m being as transparent as I absolutely could. I have zero idea what any sort of timeline is, and I’m actually extremely motivated to be in the gray, because I’m extremely motivated to do right by, you know, the person that we’re talking about. I know that’s not an ideal way to do business, necessarily. But this is more than business.”

McDaniel added, “Literally all I’m telling Tua is, ‘Everyone is counting on you to be a dad this weekend,’ and then we’ll move from there.”

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If Tagovailoa does ultimately decide he wants to continue playing and doctors allow it, then the Dolphins must do everything possible to protect him, which means bringing him along at a painstakingly slow pace to help guard against setbacks, and perhaps making him wear a Guardian Cap in games over his already specialized helmet. But that’s just the start.

They have invested in him heavily at this point. His contract features $167 million that is guaranteed for injury, including $43 million that has been paid this year. Even if the team forced him to retire for medical reasons, it would owe Tagovailoa the remaining $124 million of guaranteed money on his contract. If he chooses to retire on his own, he would forfeit that money, unless he and the team reached an injury settlement. So, the only move is to exercise patience and support.

McDaniel explained, “I look at Tua as a family member of mine,” and his sentiments are shared by those within the Dolphins’ organization. So for now, the necessary moves are to ensure the well-being of the man takes precedence over any football matters. Then, eventually those decisions will come.

If only there was a way to guarantee that the Dolphins quarterback never has to endure a similar episode in the future.

(Top photo of Mike McDaniel kissing Tua Tagovailoa as he exits the field: Megan Briggs / Getty Images) 

The question came 20 minutes into Mauricio Pochettino’s introductory press conference as U.S. men’s national team coach; the first query of the event in his native Spanish.

“It’ll give me a break,” Pochettino joked at the chance to rest his English.

“What was the challenge that made you want to take the U.S. job?” the journalist asked. 

The question got to the root of an issue that hovered over the entire event at a glitzy high rise in New York City’s Hudson Yards development. Why would a manager with such a massive reputation see this as his next step?

The 52-year-old former Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea manager spoke first about the feeling he had meeting with U.S. Soccer executives, and then about the great potential of the sport in the U.S. Then he got to the task at hand: taking the USMNT to a different level. 

“It’s a challenge that takes us out of our comfort zone,” Pochettino said in Spanish, smiling. “For us, the easy thing to do is take on things we already know, and we already have a quick vision and an idea (of how to accomplish it). But here it is about taking on something one does not know as well; getting out of your comfort zone so that you can challenge yourself.

“It is not only about a challenge to achieve things together but also about challenging yourself.”

Whether knowingly or not, Pochettino put himself on a parallel path with his new team. For several cycles, the idea of “getting out of your comfort zone to grow” has been a part of the USMNT’s journey toward improvement. The idea dates back to Jurgen Klinsmann’s era, but it was also discussed often by former coach Gregg Berhalter.

But the idea is about more than just going to Europe to play for the biggest clubs. It is about understanding how to find the right challenges that force you to grow. To get better.

That Pochettino sees this job as a challenge for his own growth was, perhaps, the most important takeaway from Friday’s press conference. The U.S. needed a new voice to push them to take that next step, beyond potential and into results. They will now begin that journey with a coach who has a bigger reputation than anyone else in the room but who is seeking that same type of growth.

Pochettino came across as charming, excited and motivated in the press conference. He spoke about how happy he was to be with the U.S., about the honor of being the first Spanish-speaking Latin American coach in the history of the program, and of his connection with U.S. women’s coach Emma Hayes and the potential influence the winning history of the USWNT can have on the men’s program.

He told a story about learning the English-language term of being “over the moon” in his early days as manager of Southampton in the Premier League and said he and his family are over the moon that he has taken this new job. 

That he switched back and forth between English and Spanish was, in itself, a historic moment and representative of how this hire creates an unprecedented opportunity for U.S. Soccer to reach this country’s massive — and growing — Latino population.

Pochettino clearly understood, though, that reaching fans, both new and old, will come down to one thing: winning.

Pochettino is presented to the media at Hudson Yards (Luke Hales/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

Several times over the course of the morning, Pochettino returned to a simple idea that he thinks can push this team forward: belief. He said the word “believe” a dozen times over the course of the hour-long event. For a coach famous for his ability to inspire a dressing room, it hinted at the way he’ll target mentality and psychology as much as he will tactics.

“’Believe’ for me is a word that is a powerful word,” Pochettino said. “You can have enormous talent and you can be clever, but in football, you need to believe. Believe that all is possible. If we find a way to believe all together, then for sure we will achieve.”

Later, he reinforced that idea with his sights set on the World Cup tournament the U.S. will co-host with Mexico and Canada in two years’ time.

“We need to really believe in big things,” Pochettino said. “Believe that we can win not only a game, we can win the World Cup. … We want players that show up, day one at the training camp, and think big. That is the only way to create this philosophy or this idea all together to perform and to put your talent in the service of the team. That is going to be our massive challenge.”

Bringing that belief back will be first on his to-do list as the USMNT coach.

The U.S. was clearly lacking confidence in the September window, something Pochettino said was understandable considering the results in the Copa América. The performances in a loss to Canada and a draw with New Zealand only magnified the issues within the group. Pochettino, though, didn’t seem overly concerned with the overall culture of the group, alluding then to the idea of tapping into the “winning mentality” that permeates American sports and taking inspiration from the winning culture the U.S. women have long demonstrated.

“We are here because we want to win,” Pochettino said.

The video board announces Pochettino’s appointment at the friendly against New Zealand in Cincinnati (John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)

There were, of course, ideas about how to play discussed as well. 

“We are in the USA,” Pochettino said. “I think to convince our fans, this is about to attract (them), and the aesthetic is really important. We want to play nice football, good football, exciting football, attacking football. And then, of course, we want to have the possession, because we are coaching staff also with a philosophy to have the ball. We need to run, we need to move, we need to give options, good angles to your team-mate. … And then when we don’t have the ball we need to run, we need to be aggressive, we need to be competitive.

“The potential is there. The talent is there. It’s only to create the best platform for them to express themselves.”

While Pochettino acknowledged that those are the trademarks of his team, he also said he wants first to get a feel for his players before he declares how this U.S. team will play. 

That process will start in the coming days, as Pochettino inevitably goes to sit and meet with members of the player pool, chief among them star winger Christian Pulisic. Pochettino said he wants to hear from members of the team individually, to get feedback on how they see things. Then he will gather the group together for the first time next month for friendlies in Austin, Texas and Guadalajara, Mexico.

The process to get a deal over the line has been a long one, stretching more than two months from the beginning of recruitment to his formal introduction. Pochettino admitted it was difficult to wait it out. He was ready to get to work. 

Now, the clock has started. The U.S. has less than two years until the World Cup and a mountain to climb to be ready. They have a coach, though, that few would have imagined would take this group into that tournament.

A coach who now will try to inject belief into and around this team.

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(Top photo: Luke Hales/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)