A frustrating season for Caitlin Clark just got worse.
WNBA All-Star Weekend is days away, hosted in Indianapolis for the first time in league history, and Clark was expected to be the face of the event. But she left Tuesday night's game against the Connecticut Sun with a groin injury and may have to watch the league's marquee events from the sidelines.
Clark appeared to injure her leg in the closing minutes of the Fever's win, heading to the bench and looking extremely upset. She had just returned after missing five games with an injury to her left groin, and there was at least some mention that this could be an injury to the opposite leg. There has been no update on her status yet for Wednesday night's game against the Liberty, but it certainly seems possible that she'll be out for both that game and the weekend.
As the top vote-getter, Clark was an All-Star captain and also picked to compete in the 3-Point Contest. If she's unable to participate, the league will need a replacement for her in both events and won't have much time to make a decision.
Who could replace Caitlin Clark at WNBA All-Star Weekend?
When the initial rosters were announced, Kayla McBride and Brittney Sykes were tagged as the most obvious snubs. McBride was added to the roster yesterday as a replacement for the injured Rhyne Howard, leaving Sykes as the likeliest choice.
The final decision on an injury replacement rests with commissioner Cathy Engelbert, but it's not entirely clear if the replacement would also take Clark's starting spot. The other option would be the replacement to join Team Clark as a reserve, with Kelsey Mitchell taking the starting spot as the reserve with the next most votes. That's certainly a solution that would satisfy Fever fans.
The other big question is who would replace Clark in the 3-Point Contest, in a field that includes Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Plum, Allisha Gray and rookie Sonia Citron. Sykes probably wouldn't make much sense, as she's hit just 33 percent from beyond the arc this season. McBride is a strong shooter and competed in the contest last year, eliminated just short of the final round. Paige Bueckers is another strong possibility.
But the most obvious choice, like with the starting lineup, is to let Clark's teammate Kelsey Mitchell take her spot. Mitchell is tied with Ionescu for the fifth-most 3-pointers made this season, and has hit 36.4 percent of her attempts.
But even if Mitchell is the choice, Fever fans have every reason to feel defeated. This weekend was supposed to be a celebration of Clark and their ascendant franchise. Instead, they could be watching her in street clothes again, staring down her third extended absence of the season as dreams of chasing a title turn into the desperate fight just to make the playoffs.