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The Indiana Fever received a warning over how they handled injury reports regarding Caitlin Clark, but were not fined, a WNBA source confirmed to Front Office Sports.
Clark was ruled out with a back injury just over an hour before the Fever’s Wednesday night game against the Portland Fire, after not appearing on the team’s initial injury report Tuesday afternoon. Despite Clark’s omission from Tuesday’s report, head coach Stephanie White told reporters that she didn’t attend practice that day and went through workouts after team training ended.
WNBA teams must release injury reports by 5 p.m. local time the day prior to a game (aside from back-to-back game days, when the deadline is closer to tipoff). It is common for teams to modify reports, which are updated every 15 minutes after the initial deadline, closer to game time. A player can be listed as out, doubtful, questionable, or active.
However, teams have previously faced consequences for a lack of transparency in injury reporters—in September 2024, the Las Vegas Aces were fined an undisclosed amount for not reporting A’ja Wilson’s ankle injury the day before a game against the New York Liberty. On game day, Wilson arrived at Barclays Center with a boot and was ruled out several hours before tipoff.
White said Wednesday that Clark woke up on that morning with “some stiffness and soreness” and that she was out for precautionary reasons. She also said she didn’t expect the Fever to be fined for their injury reports.
“Not everybody that doesn’t practice or gets a pro day is on the injury report; that happens all the time,” White said. “She wasn’t listed on the injury report earlier because we expected her to play.”
The Fever listed Clark as probable ahead of their Friday game against the Golden State Valkyries. They told FOS they had no comment on their warning from the league.
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