Following a bizarre scenario where Caitlin Clark was made a late scratch on the Indiana Fever’s injury report just a mere 100 minutes before tipoff against the Portland Fire on Wednesday night in Indianapolis, the WNBA has assessed a warning for failure to accurately report the former Hawkeyes’ back injury in a timely manner, a league source told IndyStar’s Chloe Peterson on Thursday.
The warning comes after the Fever did not include Clark in their 5 p.m. day-before injury report in any form for their game against the Portland Fire on Wednesday night, after the two-time WNBA All-Star missed practice on Tuesday in order to get treatment on her back.
Per the WNBA’s injury reporting policies, the league mandates all teams to provide a designation, whether it be probable (75% chance of playing), questionable (50%), doubtful (25%), or out, for “any player whose participation in the game may be affected for any reason” by 5 p.m. local time on the day before the game, then provide updates on a timely manner as statuses change throughout the day of the game.
As the Fever did not amend their injury report in any form throughout the lead-up to the shocking change to the injury report at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, despite learning more intel on Clark’s status, the league found the team to be in violation of its injury reporting procedures and policies.
In the league’s eyes, the Fever should have included Clark on earlier injury reports as either “questionable” or “doubtful” after learning more details about her back issue ahead of the game.
While the Fever escaped any monetary fine for the violation, the team’s handling of its injury reports will be under intense scrutiny by the league, its fans, and the sports media world moving forward.
If such an incident were to occur again, there is precedent for the league to reprimand the Fever.
In September 2024, the Las Vegas Aces were fined an undisclosed amount for not including MVP A’ja Wilson on a day-before injury report, which led people to believe she would be available following a foot injury in their previous game. Wilson then walked into that game in a boot and was eventually ruled out for precautionary reasons, but the league determined that Wilson should have been on the day-before injury report.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: WNBA warns Fever for failure to report Caitlin Clark injury status
Reporting by Scout Springgate, Hawkeyes Wire / Hawkeyes Wire
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