Caitlin Clark's sophomore season has been marred by injury as she's set to miss WNBA All-Star. Could physicality be a factor?
Clark was out with a right groin injury after tweaking it late in the prior night's win over the Connecticut Sun in Boston. On Thursday, she announced she won't be able to participate in this weekend's All-Star events, including her first 3-point competition.
Fever head coach Stephanie White said Clark had an MRI on Wednesday, and underscored the importance of a long-term outlook.
'Caitlin and her team will make decisions when it comes to All-Star,' White said before the 98-77 loss. 'And for me, it's a big deal for us to have All-Star in Indianapolis and of course, with Caitlin being a focal point of all of that. As a coach of the Indiana Fever, it's not a bigger deal than our long-term season, but [All-Star] is also part of the fun. These are conversations that Caitlin will have with her group. I probably won't be a part of those, but we're going to support her no matter what.'
The team listed Clark as questionable on its first availability report of the day and ruled her out ahead of its arrival at Barclays Center. White said the decision came after seeing the imaging.
'Anything that we're talking about 'day-to-day' is always good news for me,' White said. 'But that's a layman's viewpoint.'
Clark's absence puts a damper on what was primed to be an explosive All-Star in her WNBA home city, where she is serving as the de facto chair. Indianapolis submitted and received approval for hosting All-Star less than a year ago, deep into Clark's record-breaking rookie season, while the Fever smashed attendance and merchandise marks.
Players, including Clark, will start the weekend with collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the union and the league Thursday. The 3-point and skills competitions are Friday night, and the All-Star game is Saturday.
The league announced its 3-point contestants Tuesday, hours before the game in Boston. Clark did not compete in the competition a year ago. Sabrina Ionescu, the WNBA record-holder, is set to compete alongside Kelsey Plum, Allisha Gray and rookie Sonia Citron. Clark drafted her team opposite Napheesa Collier a week ago, building a group that featured Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. She also has various event appearances as the player with the largest draw the league has ever seen.
White and Fever teammates said their first concern, in the less than 24 hours since the injury, has been keeping Clark's spirits up. Clark injured her groin in the final minute of Tuesday's game and was visibly upset in the aftermath, slamming her head into the stanchion and growing emotional on the bench.
'Anytime you're injured like that, it's frustrating,' Sophie Cunningham, who dealt with an ankle injury earlier this season, said pregame. 'It's not just physically. It's a mental toll. Being in rehab; [when] you're injured you're in the gym way more and it's way harder than when you're healthy. We're just trying to keep her positive.'
It is the fourth injury Clark sustained this season (White said, to her understanding, it's not a 're-injury as much as a different kind of injury' in the connected area of the body). Clark sat out the team's first preseason game with quad tightness and played the next day when Indiana hosted the Brazilian national team at her alma mater, the University of Iowa. After the Fever dropped to 2-2 on the season in a tight loss to New York, Clark hit the bench for five games with a left quad strain. Her return lasted five games before she missed time in late June with a left groin injury. The game against Connecticut was her fourth back in the lineup.
'Being injured and continuing to have setbacks is frustrating mentally [and] emotionally,' White said. 'Oftentimes, being injured is isolating.'
Before this season, the last injury Clark sustained was in high school. She did not miss a single game at Iowa, nor in her rookie season. She missed her 10th game of the Fever's 23 on Wednesday. At this point in the season, injuries pile up everywhere, and to many of the game's best players. New York remains without center Jonquel Jones, who has targeted the July 22 home game against the Fever as her first back since June 19.
'Having a longer season, having less games, and [not] on top of each other. I think that's the only solution,' Sandy Brondello, the Liberty head coach who will lead Team Clark this weekend, said pregame. 'Because these players are conditioned, but sometimes that's part of the game. And yeah, so hopefully, maybe in the future, we'll have a longer season [and] less games in a week.'
The number of games increased again this year while the footprint of the season remained the same. The playoffs will also be more of a grind with a best-of-seven series awaiting in the WNBA Finals. Brondello said muscle injuries might be a load thing, but many injuries are 'just bad luck, too.'
In Clark's case, the defensive intensity she sees nightly could be a significant factor. The league is known for its physicality, though it's bordered on the cusp of poor officiating to the claims of players and coaches alike this season. White called it out earlier in the year after a dust-up with the Sun resulted in ejections. After Sunday's Fever win over the Wings, video of commentators calling out the four uncalled fouls on Clark in one early play made the rounds this week. The same ESPN broadcast reported that rookie Paige Bueckers said she had to learn how to defend while fouling — different than her coaching at UConn — because players get away with it.
When asked specifically if the physicality factors into Clark's injuries, White agreed.
'It causes you to load differently,' White said. 'Causes you to explode differently. It causes you to accelerate and decelerate differently. It's not the free flowing movement that we want to see when it comes to freedom of movement. And I think all of those things at times, while it might not be one blow or another over time, can contribute to that. That's why freedom of movement is a huge emphasis, from our coaches standpoint, when we have conversations at the league level.'
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