Agreed, it’s not the first time Paige Bueckers will face Caitlin Clark. The two have collided before, starting with the 2021 Sweet Sixteen matchup, where Bueckers posted a near triple-double with 18 points, leading UConn to a dominant 92–72 win. Then came the 2024 Final Four clash, where Iowa edged out UConn 71-69, thanks to Clark’s 21-point performance. So yes, they’ve gone head-to-head during their collegiate days, but this time was supposed to be different.

Why? Because now they’re not just college phenoms, they’re WNBA stars. Upgraded, evolved, and ready for another round under the pro lights. That’s why the American Airlines Center, an NBA arena with nearly 20,000 seats, was packed to the brim. Tickets? Gone. Hype? Through the roof. And then… hours before tip-off, the basketball gods hit the big red button.

It’s because the historic clash fans had been waiting for might not happen as Caitlin Clark is questionable due to a left groin injury, meaning Paige Bueckers might now face a Clark-less Indiana Fever. It all came up on Thursday morning when Indiana added Clark to its injury report ahead of their game against the LA Sparks. “I think it’s very much a day-to-day thing, how she responds to treatment,” head coach Stephanie White told reporters.

While the HC didn’t get into the specifics of the injury, she did mention that she first learned about it on Wednesday night, and soon after, Clark underwent an MRI. Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t be worse for Indiana Fever sensation as she had already missed three weeks earlier this season with a left quad strain and even sat out a preseason game. Well, this is the first time in her career she’s been dealing with injuries that are causing her to miss games, and it’s beginning to impact her performance.

Just look at the numbers. Clark returned strong, dropping 32 points on the New York Liberty and 20 more against the Connecticut Sun. But since then? She’s hit a cold stretch. In her past three games, Clark has managed just 12 points per contest, shooting 27.7% from the floor. As for her three-point shot? Let’s just say it’s been on an extended vacation. She’s hit only one of her last 23 attempts from beyond the arc. So, yeah, the struggles are real. But now Fever will be enduring those struggles without her, but they won’t be alone getting impacted!

It’s because CC was scheduled to travel with the team to Dallas for the second of Indiana’s back-to-back games. And since her arrival was hyped up, the Wings made special arrangements, one of them being shifting the game to the American Airlines Center to accommodate a bigger crowd. News of Clark’s injury hit, and it hit the resale market hard. According to SeatGeek, the get-in price nosedived from $190 in the morning to $115 by the afternoon. Even in the locker room, the Wings, one of the bottommost teams, had strategized ways to stop the 2024 All-Star.

Now, that entire game plan has to shift. “You go in preparing for [Clark] to be there. And then you adjust accordingly,” Wings assistant coach Chris Koclanes said, per a post on X from Joey Mistretta. “I know they’ve just signed Aari McDonald back. And we’ll see a lot of her tonight, so we’ll get a good look at what that might look like if [Clark] doesn’t play [against] us. So we have the benefit of watching them play tonight without her, but you go in preparing for Caitlin to be on the floor, and you adjust”. 

And he’s absolutely right. Going up against Clark is no small task, especially when she’s pulling up from the logo like it’s a free throw. How do you guard a player who buries shots from 33 feet out like it’s nothing? And when she drives in, she’s just as dangerous. If it’s not a bucket from her, it’s likely an assist as Clark leads the Fever in that category, too.

Well, that’s the kind of impact she has. If there’s any doubt, just watch her game against the Liberty. She had 32 points that night, snapping the top-seeded team’s winning streak. But now, with her sidelined again, both the Fever and the Wings will have to make adjustments.

How Indiana Fever will be going without Caitlin Clark?

For the Fever, CC’s not the only player who’s absent, as the team recently waived DeWanna Bonner due to a mismatch in interests. For those unaware, she was part of Coach Stephanie White’s initial strategy to build a strong defensive core for the Fever this year.

So, you can imagine the kind of void her absence would create. But the Fever already found a replacement, signing guard Aari McDonald for the remainder of the season. And yes, she’s a value addition – she already proved herself earlier this year when she joined the Fever on a hardship deal while both Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham were out with injuries. Even Coach White has nothing but praise for her: “Certainly her pedigree, her ability to have the ball in her hands and make plays—not just for herself but for her teammates—and the tone she sets on the defensive end of the floor,” she shared.

And it all makes sense. The former No. 3 overall pick appeared in just three games and still managed to average 11 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals while playing 25.3 minutes per game. Defensively, she’s been a standout, with a .193 defensive win share per game, a metric that measures a player’s cumulative defensive impact, which is the highest of any Fever player this season. That adds weight to White’s remarks about her defensive presence.

Above all, McDonald’s addition could bode well for Clark’s performance in the second half of the season. “When we get ‘C’ back, it gives us the ability to play ‘C’ off the ball a little bit—to take some pressure off of her,” White noted. “I mean, she’s getting hounded 94 feet, 40 minutes a game, every game.” But for now, there’s no update on Caitlin Clark’s return, and the Fever will suit up with only nine players for their upcoming games against the Sparks and the Wings.