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Caitlin Clark ruled OUT for Commissioner's Cup Final vs. Minnesota Lynx

Caitlin Clark ruled OUT for Commissioner's Cup Final vs. Minnesota Lynx

Yahoo01-07-2025
For the third straight game, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White will be without her star, Caitlin Clark. This one is a big one, as it is the WNBA Commissioner's Cup Final. As if the Fever needed any more obstacles, they are set to face off against the team with the best record in the league, the Minnesota Lynx.
This will be the third straight game Clark will miss due to her groin injury. She already missed five games earlier in the season with a quad injury.
Indiana sits in third place in the Eastern Conference with their 8-8 record. Minnesota, who went to the WNBA Finals last season only to fall short in five games to the New York Liberty, comes in at 14-2. They are 2.5 games ahead of Phoenix at the top of the Western Conference.
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The Lynx are also looking to become the first team to ever win the Commissioner's Cup in back-to-back seasons. Last year, the Lynx won on the road against the Las Vegas Aces.
MORE: How much will Caitlin Clark get for winning WNBA Commissioner's Cup
Clark is second on the team with 18.2 points per game and leads with 8.9 assists per game. In her last game before the injury, Clark played 31 minutes against Seattle, scoring just six points.
Indiana added Aari McDonald for the remainder of the season following the departure of DeWanna Bonner. McDonald has made a start in her five games and is scoring 12 points per game. Kelsey Mitchell is the top scorer on the team with 18.9 points per game, while Aliyah Boston has been strong with 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
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Indiana's next game after the Tuesday night tilt is Thursday at home against the Aces.
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WNBA All-Star 2025: Players take court in warm-up shirts reading 'Pay Us What You Owe Us' amid CBA talks
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The WNBA's ongoing CBA negotiations became a subplot of the All-Star Game the second the players stepped onto the court. Each player, as well as Caitlin Clark looking on from the bench, wore a black shirt reading "Pay Us What You Owe Us." It was a clear message to the WNBA after a week of seemingly fruitless talks in Indiana ahead of the All-Star festivities. It's never a great sign for a league when ESPN is discussing its players' demands during the middle of its All-Star Game, but the matter was unavoidable for the broadcast thanks to the shirts and other messages from the players. The WNBA players opted out of the current CBA last October, setting an expiration date on Oct. 31. A work stoppage looms if the two sides can't come to an agreement before the start of next season. Many All-Stars were present at an in-person talk between league and union officials on Thursday. The result of that meeting was a statement from the players calling the league's current proposal unsustainable: "We've told the League and teams exactly why their proposal falls so short. This business is booming — media rights, ratings, revenue, team valuations, expansion fees, attendance, and ticket sales — are all up in historic fashion. But shortchanging the working women who make this business possible stalls growth. The only thing more unsustainable than the current system is pretending it can go on forever." WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert responded by painting the conversation as "very constructive" and saying she is "optimistic" a deal will get done. There are a number of issues for the two sides to iron out, from the freedom of players to participate in other domestic and international leagues during the offseason (which almost always pays more than the WNBA) to the longstanding dispute over travel accommodations. The biggest point of contention is, of course, the distribution of money in a league set to make a reported $200 million per year for its media rights and charging a $250 million entry fee from each of the three incoming expansion teams. The players have been open with their demands and unhappiness about the state of the talks during the All-Star break, while the WNBA has mostly refrained from speaking out in recent months. Saturday represented one more time in which the players are forcing the issue into the public sphere.

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'And one that leans more towards a fixed percentage is what the league is responding to us with and we want to have a better share of that where our salaries grow with the business and not just a fixed percentage over time.' The public statements from players and fan reactions put pressure on the league as negotiations continue. It's not new for players to utilize the fandom in real time. It is for them to do it with this much of the fandom so invested in their work. Engelbert conceded on Saturday that there is no hard date in October to complete a CBA. The two sides extended the deadline in 2019 and agreed to a deal in mid-January 2020. 'If we're in a good place, and we're going back and forth and there's a few remaining issues, we can extend dates here and there,' Engelbert said. Extensions could complicate the league calendar. Incoming expansion teams Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will need to complete an expansion draft, which was scheduled in December last year for the Golden State Valkyries. All 15 teams will engage in a potential landscape-altering free agency period, since nearly everyone not on a rookie contract is unrestricted. The WNBA draft follows in April, right after the national title game on April 5, before the likely start of the 2026 WNBA season. Both sides said on Saturday they're committed to finalizing a deal. The players delivered their counterpunch before heading out of town and found that their fans, new and old, met them where they were once again this weekend. 'First and foremost, the mission was accomplished because we built an incredible amount of awareness this weekend,' Plum said. It's been a winning strategy for them before.

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