After spending the first nine years of her career with the Seattle Storm, Alysha Clark has returned to the franchise in free agency. As she prepares for her second stint with the team, she opened up on embracing a new mentality.
Clark has had a lot of success in her career, being part of three championship teams. However, it was typically in a smaller role. Following a big trade this offseason, the Storm are calling on Clark and others to fill a big void in the offense.
During the offseason, the Storm parted with Jewell Loyd in a blockbuster multi-team deal. As a near 20 point-per-game scorer, Seattle is now tasked with replacing that production. They plan to do this by comittee, with Alysha Clark being one of the players who could take on a larger role.
As training camp rolls along, Clark touched on changing her offensive mentality to try and provide more of a scoring punch for the Storm.
“Not that I need to go out and score 20,” Clark said, “but they want me to be aggressive and look to score — be an active scorer versus a passive scorer. That’s new for me. That’s a change for me mentally that I have to do because for my entire [WNBA] career, I’ve been a passive scorer. It’s been off of what everyone else is doing.”
Clark, 36, is coming off a season with the Las Vegas Aces where she averaged six points across 40 matchups.
Alysha Clark doesn’t have a history of being a high-level scorer
As one of the more experienced players on the roster, the Storm aren’t wrong to call on Alysha Clark to try and take on more. However, throughout her WNBA career, she’s never shown flashes of being an impactful scorer.
For her career, Clark is averaging 6.9 points. In her 12 seasons, she’s only averaged double-digit points on one occasion. That came at the end of her first stint with the Storm, where she posted 10.0 points per game in 22 appearances.
One reason why this is a bit of a gamble for the Storm is where Alysa Clark is at in terms of her career. Midway through this season, she’ll turn 38-years-old. In this twlight of her player career, there is no telling how much more she can provide offensively.
Despite these factors, Clark seems confident she can adapt her approach and help fill the void left by Loyd in the Storm’s offense.
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Edited by Kevin McCormick
