Fever’s Tight-Lipped Stance On Caitlin Clark’s Injury Casts Shadow Over WNBA’s Gambling Ties

If you’re an Indiana Fever fan, you probably only have one question on your mind—when is Caitlin Clark going to come back? And honestly, we don’t know. Everyone at the Fever organization is playing their cards close to their chest. We’re used to noncommittal responses from Stephanie White, Clark’s teammates, and Clark herself when asked about her return. This can only mean two things. Either the injury is a lot worse than we thought, and CC doesn’t stand a chance of making the playoffs, or they’re purposefully trying to stop information from getting out.

On the No Offseason podcast, hosts Sabreena Merchant, Ben Pickman, and Zena Keita discussed how WNBA teams aren’t being as forthcoming as before. “I would say recent trend, maybe it’s this season, maybe it’s the last couple…teams [are] being a little bit more vague when sharing the injury prognosis of their players,” Pickman said, bringing up Breanna Stewart as an example, and how the Liberty didn’t disclose her exact injury diagnosis and cause for quite some time. “I don’t know if it’s game of chicken, but there’s a little bit of gamesmanship that is going on right now between teams about how much or how little they want to display and relay.” 

The Indiana Fever, like many other teams, is engaged in a lot of gambling partnerships. Their official sportsbook partner for the season is Bet365, and as per Sabreena Merchant, the company is probably not thrilled about the secrecy. “I can imagine that they are not super happy about the lack of transparency, and you know, wanting to know when players are going to be available, and how to set lines, and things of that nature.” She said, pointing at another glaring issue.

Another example? Kayla Thornton from the Golden State Valkyries. We know that she suffered a knee injury in practice that ended her season, but what injury was it? What kind of procedure did she go through? The Valks still haven’t let anything slip. But here’s the thing: Caitlin Clark’s absence from the WNBA is something else entirely. When the Indiana Fever star doesn’t play, the league suffers. Ticket sales and prices are down, viewership has taken a hit, and fans have stopped showing up.

Which is exactly why, according to Ben Pickman, the silence “would be more for competitive balance purposes than they are trying to keep viewership high in the present and in the playoffs.” It is definitely having an impact on the league, and it might even be affecting some of the partnerships and collaborations that WNBA teams have.

Regardless of unhappy partnerships, however, it’s clear that Indiana is gonna keep mum about their plans moving forward. The latest update about Caitlin Clark is no better than what we’ve been hearing for months now, and you can’t help but wonder—is she going to come back this season? Let’s take a look at what we know!

Will Caitlin Clark make her comeback this season?

Perfect attendance. That’s probably the word we would use to describe Caitlin Clark up until this season. The Indiana Fever star didn’t miss a single game throughout her entire collegiate career, and her rookie year in the W. She doesn’t like minute restrictions, and she doesn’t like operating in a limited capacity. So, when she misses 19 straight games, you know she’s going through it!

As mentioned before, Indiana has been pretty cagey about what exactly is going on with their star guard. They didn’t mention the bone bruise on her ankle, and they definitely aren’t telling us when she’s coming back. All we’re hearing? “She’s working as hard as she can to make sure that she is coming back or is capable of coming back.” A perfectly composed non-answer, if there ever was one.

The organization’s goal is to reintroduce CC to multiple contact practices and see what she looks like under fatigue. “I want to see her to continue to work to not just build endurance, but to be able to handle contact 94 feet as it’s going to be in game,” White said about Clark’s return to basketball. But honestly? We don’t know when that’s going to happen.

Indiana only has three games left in the regular season, and we have still not seen Caitlin Clark engage in full-blown practices just yet. So, the answer to whether she’ll be coming back? We don’t know. The Indiana Fever organization is not giving anyone enough information to work with. As fans, we can only hope that Clark will be back soon, because the league is definitely more fun with her on the court!