Caitlin Clark will miss a second straight game due to her left groin injury, knocking the Indiana Fever star out of what would have been a matchup of the past two No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft.
The Fever announced Friday that Clark would not play against the Dallas Wings and rookie Paige Bueckers. Clark also missed Thursday night’s game, an 85-75 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.
Friday’s game is being played at the American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Mavericks. It’s the first time the Wings have played a home game away from the arena on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington.
Clark did not miss a game in college or her first year in the WNBA. But she recently returned from a left quad injury that held her out for five games, when Indiana went 2-3.
Clark had averaged 17.8 points over five games since her return but had struggled of late from distance, making just 1 of 23 3-point attempts over her past three games.
Fever coach Stephanie White had said Thursday that she found out about Clark’s latest injury late Wednesday night, after the training staff had taken her for an MRI. White said she thought it was “very much a day-to-day thing … how she responds to treatment.”
After Friday’s game in Dallas, Indiana is off until Tuesday’s Commissioner’s Cup championship game at the Minnesota Lynx.
Clark is averaging 18.2 points, 8.9 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game, while Bueckers is at 17.7 points, 5.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds. Bueckers has missed four games this season, first with a concussion and then an illness.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
