The Seattle Storm guard Skylar Diggins-Smith has been having a hard time this year. The 34-year-old was snubbed from the WNBA All-Star team despite being a part of it 6 times. Next, even during the Olympics this year, the veteran couldn’t make the roster. However, when she looked to be making a comeback by accomplishing a rare feat, her achievement was overshadowed by the Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark.

After a season-long maternity leave, the veteran guard returned to the Storm with a 2-year deal. From the start of the season, Smith took on the role of a conventional playmaker for the rather young team in Seattle. The result of which you ask?

Skylar Diggins-Smith breaks into the top 10 all-time assist makers

The Olympian started the season by dishing out 6 assists against the Minnesota Lynx. And with time her efforts on the court only grew. She now stands tall in the top playmakers in the league with an average of 6.4 apg. The proof of her growth was when the 2014 WNBA Most Improved Player hit 12 assists against the Lynx in July, and it was only a matter of time before she broke the all-time record.

During her game against the Dallas Wings on Friday, Smith hit 4 assists, getting her the 10th position in the all-time WNBA assist leaders. Accomplishing the feat, she surpassed Tamika Catchings who had 1488 assists. As of now, Smith has 1489 assists. While Catchings accomplished the feat in 457 games, Smith took only 289 to etch her name in glory.

Cut to 2024, she went ahead to achieve this milestone. Nonetheless, the news did not receive as much traction as was expected due to Clark, who made a record on the same day.

Caitlin Clark overshadows the dominance of a vet

The 22-year-old on Friday dished out 9 assists against the Las Vegas Aces, taking over the Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas’s record of most assists in a single WNBA season. While Thomas had 316 assists in 2023, Clark scored 321 assists. Another notable thing is that the Fever have 2 more games left in the regular season and Clark would be looking to close the record on a higher assist number with her league-high average of 8.4 assists per game.

Meanwhile, Smith this year had also made clear her plans of passing the rock to her teammates which can be confirmed by the fact that this season she has hit the most assists (236). In the list in which Clark occupies the top position, the veteran guard is stationed at the 11th, just three assists behind the next star Natasha Cloud.

Perhaps Smith will break into the top 10 even on this list with three more games in the season. Hopefully, she will break into this one too, and garner the rightful attention.