That old saying is true – pressure bursts pipes. And while the pipes at Gainbridge Fieldhouse have not burst, cracks are appearing in the foundation causing said pipes to leak.
This entire mess began prior to a May 20 game between the Indiana Fever and Portland Fire at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. When the team released its injury report prior to that contest, Caitlin Clark was not listed on said report.
The report was blank, but Clark was later listed as a late scratch due to back soreness. Clark did not play in that game but the Fever defeated the Fire by a final score of 90-73. Double-digit point performances from Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull in addition to solid bench minutes from Raven Johnson and Myisha Hines-Allen were instrumental in that Indiana victory.
The WNBA did not like what it saw from Indiana – and issued a warning to the Fever regarding Clark’s status on these reports. Fever coach Stephanie White later remarked that the team could continue to list Clark as “probable” to avoid tripping over any more WNBA red tape.
Since then, the Fever played back-to-back contests with the Golden State Valkyries. Indiana won the first game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse by a final of 90-82. Clark played 32 minutes and was one assist shy of a double-double along with 22 points along with a steal and a blocked shot.
The May 28th contest at Chase Center would yield better fortunes for Golden State as it defeated Indiana in a highly entertaining 90-88 contest. Clark would play in 28 minutes and score 16 points, dish out six assists, haul in four rebounds and collect three steals along with blocking a shot.
It was, ironically, back in Portland where it was clear the pressure was starting to increase. A widely shared clip of an upset White bellowing at Clark was the talk of WNBA social media for days. One can assume this had to do with the Fire outplaying Clark on both ends of the floor.
The Fire won that contest by a final score of 100-84. Not only was Clark held to only six points (she also sent out six assists) but many Fire players were able to drive past Clark en route to the basket for layups and potential and-one opportunities. Clark’s defense was no match for Megan Gustafson, Carla Leite, Emily Engstler, Bridget Carleton, Sarah Ashlee Barker, Frieda Bühner and friends.
Back to that May 20 contest. The latest chapter in what is becoming a Hoosier State soap opera involves a longtime Indianapolis beat reporter named Scott Agness. He claimed on his Substack that the Fever have revoked his credential access citing “the spread of inaccurate and unsubstantiated information” regarding Clark and her injury status.
Agness tweeted that he was told the development was part of a “strategic management plan” for the 2026 season. He also mentioned that it was Indiana’s fourth game in eight days. He also emphasized that this stems back to Clark missing the majority of last season (including all of All-Star weekend which was to be built around Clark) with injuries and was not attempting to hint at load management.
Agness also mentioned that his relationship with the Pacers has also increasingly tense and that he was denied access and taken off Indiana’s email list because of a parking issue during NBA All-Star weekend in 2024.
Unless the Fever come out publicly and make a statement in response to what Agness is claiming, that May 20 injury report is once again a story – and has been one for the last several weeks.
If there was an issue with what Agness reported, that is something that should be handled behind closed doors between Agness and Fever communications. Nothing has indicated that Agness had any intent to report untrue or misleading information regarding Clark’s injury status or the Fever as a whole.
Part of the reality of this situation is back issues are nothing to play with in any sport. Ask Elena Delle Donne. Yes, she won a WNBA championship in 2019 with the Washington Mystics and is to be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame later this month. But she won that championship with three herniated discs in her lower back, and those lingering issues affected her throughout the latter part of her career.
But there is a reason as to why teams are to release injury reports prior to games. Clark was not listed on that May 20 report – she should have been either “probable” or “questionable.”
That is something that is disappointing to fans as well. The Fever are in a spot where lots of fans – even on the road – are paying tickets because they are assuming Clark will be available to play. Then there is no Clark and those fans are heading home with long faces.
We are in the early stages of the 2026 season. The micro of the matter is that the Fever – and other WNBA teams – are having an increasingly tense relationship with the media that tells its stories as media attention around the W has never been higher (especially in Indiana because of the Clark effect).
To the credit of Fever communications, it did push back on a false report that was amplified by Skip Bayless that the tense moment between Clark and White in that huddle in Portland would lead to White being replaced as head coach. Both Clark and White have dismissed that moment as a matter of tough coaching – and both, more than likely, are correct.
But we also must remember that this is the same Fever franchise that once upon a time granted credentials to Dave Portnoy – the head ‘Stool Pigeon at Barstool. Portnoy is a shock jock who likely only discovered the W existed on April 15, 2024 – the night Clark got drafted with the first overall selection by the Fever.
One must also ask Portnoy to name 10 WNBA players without using Google or another AI search service. He would likely fold like a cheap tent.
We also vividly remember an awkward exchange two years ago at one of Clark’s first press conferences with the Fever. That was when Indianapolis Star writer Gregg Doyel formed a heart with his hands towards her.
You like that?
–Caitlin Clark
I like that you’re here.
–Gregg Doyel
Yeah, I do that at my family after every game.
–Caitlin Clark
Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.
–Gregg Doyel
Doyel later apologized for what was obviously an open-mouth insert-foot moment on his part.
We have analyzed the micro of the situation. Here is the macro – the Indiana Fever are under intense pressure to deliver a consistent winner in the Caitlin Clark era.
The public relations staffs of teams having added layers of PR protection around marquee players is nothing new – and will always be the case as long as major pro sports exist. Look at the additional layers of media protection that surround LeBron James regardless of which team’s colors he is wearing. No disrespect to the Makayla Timpsons and Sophie Cunninghams of the world – both are WNBA-caliber players. But their injury status will not draw the eyeballs of a Clark (or even a Boston or a Mitchell).
The reality of the Clark era is getting real in the Hoosier State and expectations are sky-high for the Fever to bring at least a WNBA Finals (if not a championship itself) to Indiana.
In terms of gate, attention and merchandise sales, the Fever have been batting 1.000. After all, the WNBA basically granted Indiana last year’s All-Star weekend when there were no bidders because of the Clark effect. Unfortunately, the Fever (and the W as a whole) could not fully capitalize on it because of Clark being hurt.
Not to mention, the Fever are dealing with a level of media attention that, one can argue, not even the Pacers or the NFL’s Colts receive because of the Clark effect. Indianapolis is a relatively small media market and does not have the press presence of a New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Toronto.
The New York Liberty have a relatively large press corps because of where the team plays. The Las Vegas Aces receive a great deal of media attention because they have won three of the last four championships and have the league’s marquee player of marquee players in A’ja Wilson.
But now the attention will turn more to how the Fever perform on the court with Clark sporting Fever threads. We are in year three of the Clark era – the Fever are supposed to be in the WNBA Finals at the conclusion of this season.
It is early in the season but if the playoffs were to start today, the Fever would be on the outside looking in. To Indiana’s credit, it has a team and a coach more than capable of earning one of those top postseason seeds. Also, if the history of basketball teaches us anything, the cream of the crop always rises to the top. Indiana should be there when we get to September.
As for Clark, she had the GOAT tag placed on her the nanosecond she was drafted with the first overall selection by the Fever in that 2024 draft. If Clark is to have a Wilson-esque career, 2026 will be the first of many seasons throughout No. 22’s era where Indiana will be playing October basketball.
The Fever did not draft Clark (and Boston, for that matter) to only contend for playoff berths. They drafted Clark and Boston to do what the Aces are doing right now, what Cheryl Reeve’s Minnesota Lynx did in the 2010s and what Van Chancellor’s Houston Comets did in the late 1990s. Wilson got to her first Finals in 2020 with the Aces against the Seattle Storm in the bubble. The Storm swept the Aces but Wilson had to endure that Finals heartbreak to arrive at where we are in 2026 where she is in the conversation among the sport’s all-time greats.
The Fever qualified for the postseason in 2024 but were swept in two games by the Connecticut Sun in the first round. Not to mention that series being marred because of more attention (much of it racist) surrounding DiJonai Carrington’s nails than the actual basketball being played on the court.
Even with Clark’s injury, the 2025 Fever still were part of a semifinal field that included the Aces, Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx. Stellar play from Boston, Mitchell, Odyssey Sims and Natasha Howard all were instrumental in the Fever nearly stunning the Aces en route to a get-together with Phoenix for all the marbles.
That is what so much of this goes back to. Given what Indiana accomplished last season without a healthy Clark and the Clark-induced media circus engulfing the team, White and the rest of that organization are feeling the pressure. This is a “Finals or bust” season for the Fever and they know it. That is a reality being wrestled with by the entire organization – especially the coaching staff and the front office.
The reality of the situation is the Fever have created a problem where there was no problem. Clark is not the first player to potentially play hurt and will not be the last. The idea of the Fever managing Clark’s playing time makes sense. After all, she did not play for much of last season and Indiana wants to make sure those same injury woes do not repeat themselves in 2026 because those will sandbag a possible postseason run.
The Fever are also cognizant of the narratives that will likely be penned about the team if there are no October WNBA hoops being played at the Fieldhouse. If Indiana can be a few plays shy of the Finals last season with no Clark and fail to qualify for the Finals in 2026 with Clark, many a WNBA pundit will likely opine that the media circus around Clark may do more harm than good in the long run. Those same pundits will likely also bring Clark coming up short in back-to-back national championships with Iowa against two SEC teams in LSU and South Carolina.
And there is no question that there is a media circus around West Des Moines’ very own – and none of it is Clark’s fault. We at Beyond The W vividly remember being on site in Phoenix when Clark participated in her first All-Star Game in 2024. She and Angel Reese were granted their own media availabilities because the scrums around both were so massive.
Speaking of Reese, we also understand that the media circus surrounding Clark involves said circus being completely “normal” when it comes to Reese vs. Clark matchups. The Indiana Fever’s next matchup happens to be at home…against the Atlanta Dream…on Amazon…in a Commissioner’s Cup contest. The Dream are 6-2 as of this writing and are only one win behind the Lynx for the top spot in the W.
The Fever organization needs to worry less about banning reporters for…well…reporting and worry more about how Boston, Clark, Mitchell and company will utilize strong defense to ban Reese, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada (and the rest of the W) from dropping buckets on their home court (and road courts) this season.
