INDIANAPOLIS — In a couple weeks, Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark will be entering a new reality.

The National Player of the Year is expected to be drafted No. 1 by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA draft Monday night. Then, as one of the best 144 women’s basketball players in the country, she’ll enter into a new world to compete against them. Training camp starts April 28, and she will have her first true WNBA action in a preseason game against the Dallas Wings less than a week later on May 3.

CAITLIN CLARK FEVER: Sign up for our newsletter for best stories on WNBA

“Reality is coming,” WNBA great Diana Taurasi said in response to a question from SportsCenter’s Scott Van Pelt. “There’s levels to this thing. And that’s just life, we all went through it. You see it on the NBA side, and you’re going to see it on this side, where you look superhuman playing against some 18-year-olds, but you’re going to be coming up against some grown women who have been playing professional basketball for a long time. Not saying it’s not going to translate, because when you’re great at what you do, you’re just going to get better, but there is a transition period where you’re going to have to give yourself some grace.”

Taurasi was talking to all rookies coming into the league — Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso included.

And Taurasi, who has been in the WNBA since 2004 and played with the Phoenix Mercury for nearly 20 years, notoriously doesn’t take nicely to rookies.

“Diana is Diana, and she’s said it: she hates rookies,” Devereaux Peters, a former Notre Dame and WNBA player, told IndyStar. “I feel like, to be honest, the majority of people that have spoken about their ‘Welcome to the league’ story have a Diana story. She is the type that is going to knock you down and clothesline you and step over you and act like nothing happened. It is what it is, it’s part of the process."

Still, Taurasi has a point: There will need to be a transition period between the college and professional level.

So, what will Clark’s new reality be once she is in the WNBA?

Off-court adjustments

Peters, who played four years at Notre Dame, was the third overall pick in the 2012 WNBA draft to the Minnesota Lynx. She came into the league with a similar timeline as Clark — Notre Dame made it to the national championship game in 2012 before falling to Baylor, leaving just weeks before Peters had to report to training camp.

And that quick turnaround was one of the most difficult things about the transition, she said.

“Me personally, I didn't even get to go to my graduation, because I had to be reporting for training camp by that time,” Peters said. “So I didn't get to go to graduation, like right after the season. And particularly if you get deep into the tournament, that's even less time … there's this rookie wall that you hit about halfway through the season, just because you're so drained. You just kind of wear out at some point, and there's no way to prep for that.”

Peters also came into the league in an Olympic year. While the month break in the middle of the season scrunches up the schedule, she said, that extended break is crucial for the rookies (if Clark doesn’t make it on the Olympic team, that is).

On top of that, the WNBA doesn’t have pregame team dinners or trainers telling players when and where to come for ice baths or treatment, Peters said. Professional players are expected to have their own game-day routines, which includes scheduling pregame treatments and dinners on their own.

“To be honest, like in college, we're kind of babysat,” Peters said. “Our coaches are glorified babysitters — they tell us where to be, what to do, when to eat, what to eat. We have nutritionists you know, everybody's kind of telling us what to do … once you get to the league. It's a business, right, and they don't have that same mentality.”

That business includes commercial flights. The league still has teams fly commercially, creating hassle, delays, and other issues for WNBA teams and staff. The league has expanded its options in the past year, allowing charter flights for back-to-back games and playoff games.

The Indiana Fever’s schedule only has one instance of a road back-to-back: May 24-25 against the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces. So, most of Clark’s regular-season flights will come on commercial airlines.

But that just adds more emphasis on taking care of your body as a professional basketball player, Peters says.

“That's just an added pressure, because you're going to be worn out at some point,” Peters said. “You're not having the easy access that you used to to get to a city easily and being ready to leave right after the game. You're staying the night, you're taking that extra day, you know, coming back home and then having to practice, and it can be a lot of wear and tear on your body.”

Adjusting to the pace of play

There are a few key differences to WNBA rules compared to college basketball. First, the shot clock is down from 30 seconds to 24, and there are only eight seconds to get the ball across half court. Second, there’s a defensive three-second limit.

A lot of the scouting report in the WNBA is tendencies, too, and those players who have been resting for the WNBA offseason have been watching the incoming rookies.

Those players know when Clark goes right, she tends to try for a layup. When she goes left, she will most likely pull up for a 3-pointer. Those, along with other tendencies Clark may not even know she has, are things WNBA players already know.

And those players aren’t going to pull punches, either, Peters said. The league is exponentially more physical than in college, and it’s something rookies can’t prepare for until they’re in it.

“I came into the league with tendencies that I didn't know about until they told me,” Peters said. “... And it may be stuff that you're just used to doing, because you're in the flow and playing the game and you get it and you can score on it, or you can do that well, so that's what you do when people aren't taking it away. But the second you get to the league, it’s gonna get taken away.”

Those scouting reports also include players’ defensive deficiencies — lackluster defense is something players can get away with in college, Peters said, but not in the WNBA.

“If you're not a defender, it can get exposed even more, because not only are the players really good, but they're going to exploit that,” Peters said. “People are going to come at you if they know you can't guard.”

Fitting into Indiana

Peters spent one year on the Indiana Fever in 2016, playing in 30 games. While the franchise has had a complete overhaul since then — new front office, coaches, and entire team — she said Clark will bring a lot of exposure to Indiana.

“Indiana doesn’t have a great fan base, so being able to actually fill out an arena like that, the way we've seen she's capable of doing, will be really cool,” Peters said. “Especially for a team that needs it.”

Clark will join a Fever core of Aliyah Boston, NaLyssa Smith and Kelsey Mitchell, and she will be able to play off all of them. Boston is strong in the paint, which will allow Clark to lob passes like she did in her first three years at Iowa. Clark’s presence as a potent 3-point shooter will also space out the floor in a sense they haven’t had.

“I'm really excited to see how Aliyah plays with somebody like Caitlin,” Peters said. “I think they will be a really fun team. There will be some growing pains, but everybody kind of goes through that. But I think she'll, she'll be fine, and within due time, she will have her moment where she's playing with the top players.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How will Caitlin Clark adjust to WNBA? 'Will be some growing pains.'