Caitlin Clark will miss the WNBA All-Star Game and three-point contest with an ongoing groin injury, she said Thursday morning.
Clark’s injury is a major blow to the weekend’s festivities in her home market of Indianapolis. Last year, the All-Star Game between Team USA and Team WNBA drew 3.44 million viewers, more than double the previous high and still the largest audience for a WNBA game in the Clark era. This season, the Indiana Fever’s games have continued to be the most-watched on TV, with matchups against Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky always performing well. Her participation in the three-point contest would have been her first in the WNBA.
The Fever’s second-year star has struggled with a recurring groin injury all summer and left Indiana’s win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night with 30 seconds left after re-aggravating the injury.
“I am incredibly sad and disappointed to say I can’t participate in the 3-Point Contest or the All-Star Game,” Clark said in a team statement Thursday morning. “I have to rest my body.” Clark is the captain of one of the All-Star teams, and she said she would still attend the game Saturday. “I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action and I’m looking forward to helping Sandy [Brondello] coach our team to a win,” she said.
Clark’s news follows a Wednesday announcement from the Phoenix Mercury’s Satou Sabally, who said she will not compete in the All-Star Game as she continues rehab for an ankle injury. Sabally was selected as a starter and drafted by Clark.
“I’m disappointed, naturally, but I want to ensure I’m doing everything I can to be healthy after the break and give … my organization and the X-Factor everything I can as we compete to accomplish our team goals,” Sabally said on her Instagram Story.
The first player to drop out with an injury was the Atlanta Dream’s Rhyne Howard, who the league announced Tuesday will be replaced with the Minnesota Lynx’ Kayla McBride. Howard, an All-Star reserve drafted to captain Napheesa Collier’s team, injured her knee in a game last week and will be out the rest of the month.
The list of potential dropouts is also concerning for the league. Reese missed the Sky’s final game before the break to rest her leg injury, while Jackie Young hurt her hip in the final quarter of the Las Vegas Aces’ game Wednesday.
Reese was drafted as a reserve to Collier’s squad, and Young is on Clark’s bench.
The WNBA announced two replacements Thursday afternoon: Washington Mystics guard Brittney Sykes (for Clark) and Dream forward Brionna Jones (for Sabally). Who will replace Clark and Sabally in the starting lineups remains to be determined.
Sabally said she will still be in Indianapolis to attend “the most important part of the weekend,” the pivotal meeting between the WNBA and its players’ union amid ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations. As reported by Front Office Sports, the two sides remain far apart and a work stoppage is a real possibility, but players said they are hopeful Thursday’s meeting will be productive. Sabally is not part of official WNBPA leadership, but players outside of the core bargaining committee are expected to attend the meeting.
Clark herself will be there as well. “The meetings that are going to happen in Indianapolis are going to be really important,” Clark had said before her absence from the actual game was announced. “I’m certainly looking forward to those meetings and being in them, and I think everybody in our league is to help these CBA talks continue to move forward.”
