Barclays Center is likely to be disappointed yet again.
Not regarding the home team Liberty, who are likely to be at full strength to kick off the second half of the season but rather that Caitlin Clark is unlikely to be on the court for Tuesday’s game.
The Fever star, who suffered a right groin injury last week during a game against the Sun, will undergo additional testing this week and likely will be sidelined for a second consecutive regular-season game, per ESPN.
After that, the team is hoping to have “more of a clear line of what [the path forward] looks like,” Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters on Sunday.
“I think she’s progressing,” White added. “I think that we’re continuing to address everything that needs to be addressed … I don’t expect her to be available on Tuesday, so we’re just going to continue to take it one day at a time and let her get her evaluations early this week.”
After the recent injury, Clark missed the Fever’s loss to the Liberty and then sat out for the entirety of the All-Star weekend festivities set at her home arena in Indianapolis, where she was set to compete in her first professional 3-point contest and captain her team on the court after receiving a record-setting 1,293,536 fan votes — the most earned by a player in WNBA history.
The two-time All-Star said it was “certainly unfortunate” to watch the All-Star competitions from the sideline inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the team she captained was blown out by Napheesa Collier’s squad 151-131.
It’s Clark’s third injury stint of the season after she missed five games between May and June due to a left quad and went on to miss four games with an initial left groin injury.
Following recovery from the latter, Clark returned for less than a week before injuring her right groin.
She has missed 10 regular-season games this season — 11 when counting the Commissioner’s Cup final that saw the Fever beat the No. 1 Lynx 74-59.
On top of Clark’s status having grown unpredictable this season, the Fever parted ways with DeWanna Bonner, who is now with the Mercury, in a midseason departure.
The Fever have been faced with a lot of roster inconsistency, which is reflected in their 12-11 record that puts them at No. 6 in the league standings.
Indiana is only 1.5 game away from falling out of the eight-team playoff field.
“For us, it’s probably something we’re going to continue to deal with. These soft tissue injuries sometimes nag until you can actually have time to really allow them to heal in the offseason,” White said. “So, we’ll just take it one day at a time and as they come, and this group will continue to progress together.”
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