Caitlin Clark had a very big year thanks to a breakout rookie season in the WNBA and a burgeoning friendship with Taylor Swift.
The Indiana Fever guard was named Time‘s 2024 Athlete of the Year on Dec. 10, and the publication’s story on Clark notes that Swift gave her four bags of “Eras Tour” merchandise along with a sweet note about her being inspiring to watch from afar.
In her note, Swift told the 22-year-old pro basketball star, who saw the pop star perform in Indianapolis, that she and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, were excited to see Clark play in person since the “Eras Tour” was winding down, according to Time. (Swift referred to herself and Kelce as “Trav and I.”)
Swift also invited Clark to attend a Chiefs game with her.
The 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year attended back-to-back “Eras Tour” concerts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in November, where she met Kelce and Swift’s mom, Andrea Swift, according to Time.
When Swift’s star-struck fans spotted Clark in one of the stadium’s suites, they reacted by snapping pics and tossing friendship bracelets to her.
“People are just going crazy that I’m there,” said Clark. “I thought people would be so in their own world, ready to see Taylor. And it was just completely the opposite.”
Clark’s comments come on the heels of a funny video the Iowa women’s basketball team X account shared in January that showed Clark, dressed in a hoodie and puffer jacket, singing along to Swift’s 2010 song “Enchanted.”
At one point during the clip, Clark excitedly screams, “Taylor Swift! Whoo!” into the camera while her then-Hawkeyes teammate Hannah Stuelke looks on with a baffled expression.
Clark then yells out lyrics from the song’s finale that beg a lover not to love someone else.