Believe it or not, Caitlin Clark is not invincible.
Clark will miss a minimum of two weeks due to a left quadriceps strain, the Indiana Fever announced Monday. The 23-year-old had yet to miss a regular-season game in her professional career and played every possible game during her four years at Iowa.
Clark had missed a preseason game earlier this year due to a quad injury, but this injury is a “new” one, according to Chloe Peterson of Indy Star Sports.
Given the Fever’s timeline, their star guard will miss at least four games, including two games on the road that were moved to larger arenas.
- May 28: at Washington Mystics (moved to CPG Bank Arena in Baltimore)
- May 30: vs. Connecticut Sun
- June 3: vs. Mystics
- June 7: at Chicago Sky (moved to United Center)
Washington normally plays at the CareFirst Arena, which seats about 4,000, while the CPG Bank Arena would fit about 14,000. Chicago is moving from the Wintrust Arena, which fits about 10,400, to the United Center, home of the NBA’s Bulls, with a capacity close to 21,000, the most among all NBA arenas.
It’s unclear whether the teams will provide any compensation for fans who bought tickets to their games. A Mystics spokesperson said the team was “not planning to make changes to tickets.” The Sky did not respond to a request for comment.
Just outside of the two-week timeline is another road game against the Atlanta Dream, though that game will be played at the team’s usual home of Gateway Center Arena. The Dream moved its home opener on May 22 against the Fever to State Farm Arena, home of the NBA’s Hawks, and drew a sellout crowd of 17,044 fans.
All four of the Fever’s games over the next two weeks will be nationally televised, if NBA TV is considered. The two Mystics games will be on NBA TV, the Sun match-up will be on Ion, and the Sky game will be on CBS.
Clark has continued to be the needle mover for WNBA viewership. The Sky and Fever drew 2.7 million viewers on ABC in their season opener on May 17, the most-watched regular-season game ever on ESPN networks.
