Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever makes a pass as Odyssey Sims of the Dallas Wings defends Wednesday night in Arlington, Texas. Clark set a WNBA record with 19 assists. Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas — As much as she wanted to play in the Olympics, Caitlin Clark savors the thought of some time off during the WNBA’s monthlong hiatus for the Paris Games.

Never mind that Indiana’s rookie sensation didn’t really look as if she needed rest while setting a WNBA record with 19 assists in the Fever’s final game before the break.

“I feel like I’ve been nonstop go since, like, probably September of last year,” Clark said before her milestone moment Wednesday night in a 101-93 loss to the Dallas Wings.

And that’s because she has.

Two weeks after her second consecutive trip to the NCAA championship game with Iowa, Clark was the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft.

About another three weeks later, her preseason debut came in a sold-out arena on the University of Texas at Arlington campus, the same place where she set the assists record in front of another sellout.

Clark’s long break isn’t quite here, because she will play for the WNBA All-Stars against the U.S. Olympic team in Phoenix on Saturday night.

Soon enough, Clark will take about a week off before the Fever get into some sort of routine to try to stay sharp. Most of the players will be home for the Olympics. Indiana’s first game back is Aug. 16 at home against Phoenix.

“I think it’ll be really good for myself and my body,” Clark said. “You’re getting close to a full year of just playing basketball nonstop. So it’ll probably be a little weird for me not playing games. But I think it’s definitely going to be good for my body.”

Clark scored 24 points despite going 2 of 9 from deep in the loss to the Wings.

Clark leads the WNBA with 8.2 assists per game and leads all rookies at 17.1 points per game. Over the past nine games, Clark is averaging 11.9 assists.

“She’s going to get a breather and get some rest. I think it’s just great,” Fever Coach Christie Sides said. “She’s just been going so hard for quite some time now. I think it’s going to help her so much just to kind of decompress.”

Since Iowa’s opener last Nov. 6, Clark has played 65 games that counted and two that didn’t – Indiana’s brief exhibition season.

Along the way, Clark was an involuntary participant in discussions of race amid the meteoric rise of a young, white star, and hard fouls on her brought more attention than usual.

The off-the-court drama coincided with the Fever’s rough start against a difficult schedule. They rebounded from a 1-8 start by going 10-7, and are in playoff position.

If Indiana advances to the postseason in September, that’ll be more than a year since Clark started ramping up for her final college season with Iowa.

“Honestly, I feel pretty good,” Clark said. “I think the beginning of the (WNBA) season was probably the most difficult for me. Just the adjustment of, first of all, playing in this league. And then second of all, the schedule that we had, playing a game, having a day off, playing a game.

“I think once we really kind of got into a flow and got a few wins under our belt and had a little more practice time, things have settled down and flowed a little better. I feel like my feet are definitely getting under me more and starting to build more and more confidence.”

ALL-STAR GAME: Phoenix’s Brittney Griner and New York’s Jonquel Jones are among the biggest names participating in special competitions on Friday night during the league’s All-Star weekend, but the Skills Challenge and 3-point Contest won’t include a handful of the league’s most popular players, including Indiana’s Caitlin Clark, Chicago’s Angel Reese and New York’s Sabrina Ionescu.

Clark and Ionescu turned down invitations to participate for the 3-point contest, the WNBA said.

The Skills Challenge will include Griner, teammate Sophie Cunningham, Atlanta’s Allisha Gray, Connecticut’s Marina Mabrey and Indiana’s Erica Wheeler. The 3-point Contest includes Jones, Gray, Mabrey, Washington’s Stefanie Dolson and Minnesota’s Kayla McBride.

THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the WNBA players’ union is concerned the league is being undervalued with the $2.2 billion over 11 years it will receive as part of the NBA’s recently approved media rights deals.

A person familiar with the deal confirmed to The Associated Press that the WNBA would receive about $200 million a year. The person spoke on condition of anonymity on Wednesday night because no official announcement has been made.

“We have wondered for months how the NBA would value the WNBA in its media rights deal,” executive director of the union Terri Jackson said in a statement. “With a reportedly $75 billion deal on the table, the league is in control of its own destiny. More precisely, the NBA controls the destiny of the WNBA.”

The NBA’s Board of Governors approved that league’s next media rights deals with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video at its meeting Tuesday, moving the league one giant step closer to finalizing the 11-year agreements that will be worth about $76 billion.

“We look forward to learning how the NBA arrived at a $200 million valuation – if initial reports are accurate or even close. Neither the NBA nor the WNBA can deny that in the last few years, we have seen unprecedented growth across all metrics, the players continue to demonstrate their commitment to building the brand, and that the fans keep showing up. There is no excuse to undervalue the WNBA again.”