INDIANAPOLIS – (Wire Service Report) – The WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis will not be at Fever pitch.
Not with Indiana’s Caitlin Clark wearing street clothes instead of a basketball uniform and a pair of Nikes.
Team Clark and Team Collier will do battle tonight, but the All-Star Game lost some luster when Clark was forced to pull out of the contest due to a recurring right groin injury.
Team Clark coach Sandy Brondello said the face of the WNBA will be involved from the sideline during Saturday’s game.
“She’s gonna still have a great impact on this team,” Brondello said of Clark during Friday’s press conference. “I will give the coaching hat to her as much as she wants, to be quite honest.
“We’re gonna play around with it a little bit, it’ll be fun. I think you’ve seen it with the Fever, she’s been very active on the sideline when she wasn’t playing so we’ll utilize that as well.”
Clark was injured late in Tuesday’s victory over the Connecticut Sun. She missed Wednesday’s loss to the New York Liberty and announced Thursday that she was pulling out of Friday’s 3-point shooting contest and Saturday’s All-Star Game
“I am incredibly sad and disappointed to say I can’t participate in the 3-Point Contest or the All-Star Game,” Clark said in a statement. “I have to rest my body. I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action and I’m looking forward to helping Sandy (Brondello) coach our team to a win.”
Team Clark could be facing the loss of another star as three-time MVP A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces is nursing a wrist injury and said Friday that it’s “to be determined” whether or not she plays.
Team Collier is named after Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, the league’s scoring leader at 23.2 points per game.
Clark’s chief rival, Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky, is on Team Collier. She is the rebounding leader at 12.6 per game.
The second-year pro has stepped up her game this season.
“Year 2, everybody knows your game,” Reese said. “If you don’t get better in the offseason, it will show.”
Reese and Clark have brought more attention to the WNBA, though there have been many bumps in the road. The league hasn’t always appeared ready for the extra scrutiny.
Veteran coach Cheryl Reeve, who is coaching Team Collier, said there is a reason for why the rise in popularity hasn’t gone smooth.
“I think the larger picture of the NBA and our franchises that are affiliated with NBA teams, there has been this long sort of undertone that the WNBA is nice but it will never become mainstream,” Reeve, in her 16th year as Lynx coach, said during Friday’s news conference. “I was told that 10 years ago. I think that undertone put us in position that when it was time to capitalize, we missed some things.”
There are six first-time All-Stars among the participants, including star rookie Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings.
“I’m very thankful to be here,” Bueckers said. “It’s just a crazy experience just living out my childhood dream.”
Fellow rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen of the Washington Mystics are among the other first-timers. Another Washington player, Brittney Sykes, is making her first appearance as are Kayla Thornton of the Golden State Valkyries and Gabby Williams of the Seattle Storm.
In addition to Clark, Satou Sabally (ankle) of the Phoenix Mercury and Rhyne Howard (knee) of the Atlanta Dream also pulled out of the game.
Kayla McBride of the Minnesota Lynx was tabbed to replace Howard. Sykes and Atlanta’s Brionna Jones were added on Thursday to replace Clark and Sabally. The latter withdrew on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media