Caitlin Clark’s season is over.
The Indiana Fever G said on social media Thursday that she will not return this season, marking an end to an injury-wracked campaign that came to a halt when she suffered a groin injury in mid-June. She played only 13 games, previously missing time for a left quad injury.
Prior to this season, Clark had never missed a college or pro game due to injury. That streak ended right off the bat this year, as she missed Indiana’s preseason opener. After playing the first four games of the regular season, she would miss five straight, play five straight, miss five straight, play four straight and then miss the rest of the season.
Clark will end up having missed 14 games across the primary WNBA broadcasters ABC (two), CBS (two), ESPN (three) and ION (seven), twice as many as she played on those four networks. (That does not include the WNBA All-Star Game on ABC, which she also missed.) Despite the injuries, she actually played more games on ABC this season (three) than last (two), helping the broadcast network to its most-watched WNBA season.
The mere seven games Clark played across ABC, CBS, ESPN and ION rank among the eight most-watched of the season (among the top nine if one includes the All-Star Game), the lone exception being an Aces-Liberty game in May that averaged 1.30 million leading into Clark’s season opener against Chicago.
Given the uncertainty regarding the WNBA collective bargaining negotiations, there is no guarantee that Clark will be back on the court in May, when the WNBA season would typically begin.
As for the remainder of the current season, Indiana is the eighth and final playoff seed and would face Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs.
Clark’s abbreviated sophomore season has precedent. Michael Jordan famously missed most of his second season with a broken foot. But unlike Clark, he was able to return in time for the playoffs — and while his 30-52 Bulls were swept in the first round, his 63-point performance in a Game 2 loss to Boston was an iconic moment in his career.
