Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was listed as probable with a back injury on the team’s injury report a day before Friday’s home contest against the Golden State Valkyries.
The injury update came roughly 24 hours after Clark was ruled out of Wednesday’s home game against the Portland Fire despite not being listed on the injury report until shortly before tipoff. The Fever later received a warning from the WNBA for failing to properly report Clark’s injury ahead of the 90-73 win, a league source told The Athletic.
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Clark was ruled out of Wednesday’s home game at 5:20 p.m. with a back injury, just 10 minutes before fans were permitted to enter Gainbridge Fieldhouse. During her pregame address, Fever coach Stephanie White said that Clark missed Tuesday’s practice while getting maintenance on her back. She added that Clark woke up Wednesday morning with “some stiffness and some soreness.” Yet, Clark wasn’t added to the injury report after either development — a clear violation of league rules.
The WNBA did not immediately respond to a question about how it chooses when to issue warnings versus fines. The Fever had no comment on the league’s warning.
Clark also had left the season-opener for treatment on her back, which she said gets “out of line” quickly.
Though the Fever aren’t expressing long-term concern about the third-year pro’s availability so early in the season, her first missed game of the season was heavily scrutinized by fans and media after her injury-plagued 2025 campaign. Clark, a two-time All-Star, averaged 24.3 points, nine assists and five rebounds in her first four games this season before being sidelined Wednesday. Last year, she appeared in only 13 games due to various lower-body injuries.
White said before this season started that the Fever would closely monitor Clark’s workload. However, she dismissed the notion that Clark’s absence Wednesday was part of a season-long management plan.
“Absolutely not,” White said. “She’s healthy. We’re not managing anything. This is just a back issue that we want to make sure we gave the time to be ready.”
Clark played a season-low 24 minutes in the Fever’s home win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday. Instead of practicing on Tuesday, Clark received treatment on her back and went through workouts after practice, according to White, but she was not listed on the Fever’s injury report that day.
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The league mandates that the injury report the day before a game “must designate a participation status and identify a specific injury, illness, other medical condition, or other reason for any player whose participation in the game may be affected for any reason.”
Teams can submit injury reports as soon as midnight ET on game days. Updates are then provided every 15 minutes leading up to tipoff.
White said she learned Clark wasn’t playing at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday. The Fever’s X account announced Clark’s absence at 5:20 p.m. The WNBA’s official injury report was updated to account for Clark’s injury at 5:30 p.m.
“Just woke up with some stiffness and some soreness,” White said of Clark. “We like to see, again, like I always say, ‘How do you respond after a workout?’ For us, it’s not the time to take a chance. We just really want to be cautious.”
White was asked why Clark didn’t appear on the injury report Tuesday or earlier on Wednesday’s report, despite receiving treatment on her back Tuesday and waking up with discomfort Wednesday.
“Well, not everybody that doesn’t practice or gets a (rest day) is on the injury report. So, that happens all the time,” White said. “And she wasn’t listed on the injury report earlier because we expected her to play.”
White has repeatedly deferred medical questions to the Fever training staff, although they cannot discuss injuries publicly.
Although the Fever only received a warning for skirting the WNBA’s injury report rules, the league has come down harder for violations in the past. The Las Vegas Aces were fined an undisclosed amount during the 2024 season for not being forthcoming about an ankle injury A’ja Wilson suffered ahead of a game against the New York Liberty. Wilson was not listed on Las Vegas’ injury report the day before the game, but she came to the arena the next day in a walking boot and was ruled out hours before tipoff.
