Less than two hours before Wednesday night’s game against the Portland Fire, the Indiana Fever announced that superstar Caitlin Clark would not play as a result of back soreness. But based on WNBA rules, it sounds like the Fever could have opened themselves up for some punishment from the league.
About 100 minutes before Wednesday night’s game, Fever head coach Stephanie White informed reporters that Clark had been ruled out for Wednesday night’s matchup because of soreness in her back. The Fever coach claimed that Clark simply woke up with soreness, and they did not want to take a chance on her health.
“Just woke up with some stiffness and some soreness,” White said during the press conference, via ESPN. “For us, it’s not the time to take a chance. We just really want to be cautious.”
White was asked whether there was any lingering or long-term concern regarding Clark’s condition. At first, she downplayed the issue and said there was no concern, though she later acknowledged she could not say for certain since she is not directly responsible for diagnosing or overseeing Clark’s medical care.
“I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know,” White said.
Injury or Load Management?
Although White said that Clark simply “woke up” experiencing soreness in her back, she also revealed that the Fever star sat out Tuesday’s practice while receiving treatment and completing workouts separately after the session.
White continued to insist Clark was healthy, while also claiming that the decision had “absolutely not” been related to load management.
“She’s healthy,” White said. “We’re not managing anything. This is just a back issue that we want to make sure we give the time to be ready.”
The inconsistent messaging surrounding her injury led to some strong criticism for White and the Fever, as fans have correctly pointed out that Clark can’t both be healthy and injured at the same time.
Fever Face Possible Punishment
As the Caitlin Clark fan account, Clark Report, pointed out in a post on X, Indiana’s handling of Clark’s injury appears to be a “direct violation” of WNBA injury reporting requirements, which specifically state that all injuries and player absences must be reported by 5 p.m. local time the day prior to a game.
“WNBA teams must report information concerning player injuries, illnesses, other medical conditions, or rest for all WNBA games,” the league’s reporting requirements state. “By 5 p.m. local time the day before a game (other than the second day of a back-to-back), teams must designate a participation status and identify a specific injury, illness, other medical condition, or other reason for any player whose participation in the game may be affected for any reason. For the second game of a back-to-back, teams must report the above information by 1 p.m. local time on the day of the game.”
Since Clark did not practice with the team on Tuesday as a result of her back soreness, her status should have been reported to the league the day before rather than minutes before the game on Wednesday evening.
Given that this seems to be a pretty clear-cut violation of the league’s injury reporting policy, it’s likely that the Fever will be facing some punishment from the WNBA. It’s likely a fine will be coming their way in the near future if the league does indeed find that they violated the policy.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.