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Michael Voepel
MINNEAPOLIS — Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark will not play in Tuesday night’s WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game, the team announced.
Clark, who has been battling a groin injury, was initially listed as questionable for the game against the host Minnesota Lynx at Target Center (8 p.m. ET, Prime). But she was not on the court during the practice time that was open to the media Tuesday, and the team later confirmed she would not play.
Clark missed five games earlier this season with a quad injury. This will be her third consecutive game missed with the groin issue. However, the Cup final is an extra game and does not count for the 44-game WNBA regular season.
Clark did work out in practice at Indiana on Monday, coach Stephanie White said, but it was noncontact. Clark was the leading vote-getter in fan balloting and was named an All-Star starter and captain on Monday, too. The All-Star Game is July 19 in Indianapolis.
The Lynx, 14-2, are in first place in the WNBA and are the defending Commissioner’s Cup champions. The Fever, 8-8, are playing for the Cup for the first time since the in-season championship event between East and West teams began in 2021.
Tuesday’s winning team will be awarded a prize pool of $500,000.