The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game occurring in Indianapolis seemed almost certainly arranged considering Caitlin Clark’s presence. The league will proceed with the exhibition without her participation.
The Indiana Fever standout communicated in a released statement that she will not participate in this weekend’s All-Star engagements due to a groin injury she worsened during a contest on Tuesday. Consequently, the league’s prime attraction is absent from one of its headline events. This specific year denotes Indiana’s inaugural occasion to host an ASG throughout the franchise’s 26-year history.
“I am extremely saddened and disappointed to say I can’t take part in the 3-Point Competition or the All-Star Game,” Clark expressed. “I am required to rest my physical condition. I will still be present at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during all the activity and I’m looking forward to contributing to Sandy [Brondello]’s coaching of our team towards achieving a victory.”
The Fever will still have representation at the exhibition, given Lexie Hull’s selection as Clark’s substitute in the 3-point shootout, the WNBA made known on Friday.
Physical setbacks have troubled Clark during nearly the entire season. She was absent from five games between May and June because of a quad injury, followed by four contests attributed to the original groin injury towards the latter part of June. It has been a challenge overall this season for the Fever, though the anticipation revolved around her recovered health upon her return last week.
Regrettably, she concluded Tuesday’s game displaying evident discomfort and missed the Fever’s ending match of the initial portion on Wednesday.
It’s been a complicated season for Clark on the court as well. Her 5.1 turnovers per game are significantly higher than the WNBA average, and she’s declined in nearly every scoring metric subsequent to a notable initial year.
Despite these obstacles, Clark emerged as the highest vote-getter in All-Star voting and continues to be the WNBA’s greatest attraction. Her absence from the All-Star Game, notably one that appeared crafted to exhibit her as the emerging face of the league within a city hosting its first competition, partly negates months of preparatory actions by the WNBA along with its ASG associated parties.
Clark was designated as the captain of Team Clark, scheduled to compete against Napheesa Collier’s assembled team on Saturday. Besides its namesake, Team Clark incurred the loss of starting forward Satou Sabally previously this week following her declaration she would not be able to recover from an ankle injury. A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, and Clark’s teammate Aliyah Boston constitute the team’s remaining starters.
Meanwhile, the Fever are preoccupied with the remainder of their season. They finalized the first half exhibiting the league’s sixth-best performance at 12-11, but are distanced by a single game and a half from exclusion from the playoffs entirely. Indiana entered this season harboring obvious title aspirations following a drought-breaking playoff appearance the prior season, augmenting Clark and Boston through veteran talent such as Natasha Howard, Sophie Cunningham, and DeWanna Bonner (whose performances varied).
Even assuming they enter the playoffs, the Fever necessitate a healthy and effective Clark to possess a possibility at a championship. She has less than two months to arrive at that condition prior to the regular season’s conclusion.
