WNBA All-Star weekend is only a few days away, with the anticipation of hometown favorite Caitlin Clark serving as captain of Team Clark for the game in Indianapolis palpable among fans.
Nothing like a pulled muscle to mute the buzz.
The Indiana Fever superstar guard grabbed her right groin and appeared to be holding back tears as she exited with 39.6 seconds to play in a victory against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.
“[Clark] just felt a little something in her groin,” Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters. ”She’s being evaluated, we’ll see where we are with that, and certainly we’ll have another evaluation, probably a conversation in the morning, and see where we are.”
Teammate Aliyah Boston tried to console Clark as she walked to the basket stanchion and tapped her forehead against it before sitting down and covering her head with a towel. She did not speak with reporters after the game.
This is the fourth leg injury of the season for Clark, who is averaging 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and five rebounds a game. She missed five games — including the Commissioner’s Cup Championship — because of a left groin strain and missed five games with an injury to her left quad. She also missed the Fever’s preseason opener May 3 because of tightness in her quad.
Before this season, Clark, 23, had never missed a game in college or the WNBA because of injury. She played all 139 games at Iowa, then 46 games in a row to start her WNBA career.
“It’s been challenging mentally, just, you know, staying in it,” Clark told reporters July 8 before her return from the left groin injury. “I’ve been here for hours and hours on hours trying to get my body right and do everything I can to put myself in a position to be available the rest of the year.”
The Fever plays the New York Liberty on Wednesday at Barclay Center ahead of the All-Star Game, which will be played Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Fever’s home arena. Clark is also scheduled to compete in the 3-point contest Friday.
Clark and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx were named captains of the All-Star teams and drafted the rosters after getting the most fan votes. Clark finished with a record 1,293,526 fan votes and Collier received 1,176,020.
The post Caitlin Clark’s groin injury puts participation in WNBA All-Star Game in jeopardy appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
