For the second time this season, fans were denied a marquee matchup between two of the WNBA’s most talked-about players. Caitlin Clark was once again sidelined due to a lingering groin injury, leaving Paige Bueckers to take the floor without her high-profile counterpart vs the Indiana Fever on Friday night. While their only clash this season ended in Fever’s favor—CC racked up 14 points, a staggering 13 assists, and a career-high 5 steals. (three out of which came off Bueckers herself)—since that outing, Clark’s availability has become increasingly rare, resulting in more missed games than played. How is Stephanie White viewing it?

According to Fever head coach, the answer may lie beyond the medical room. Mentioning the demanding schedule that players have to battle, the head coach shed light on how she’s keeping her and the roster headstrong.

Following their 88-78 win over the Wings, in a post-game press conference, a journalist asked, “Coach, you mentioned that aspect of almost like an importance of balance, right? How do you find that balance, especially mid-season when it’s like…at the same time you want your players to rest and recover, but you also anticipate in wanting to make a deep playoff run?”

To this, White first acknowledged why they’d need balance in the first place. “It’s just the nature of the league, and I think that we have to, as coaches, be smart about the fact that now we’re starting a West Coast swing. That we’re playing every other day, that we’re crossing two time zones tonight,” she said, before adding, “And rely on our medical staff to advise us in some of those ways, too.”

“And then we got to have accountability from our players to know that physically if we can’t go through everything on the floor that they’ve got to be mentally be locked in, and be able to transition some of the mental reps…And you know, everybody learns in a different way. Everybody absorbs information in a different way. And so, our job as coaches is to try to find the best of both worlds when we’re in the midst of these kind of travel situations,” she further stated, emphasizing the importance of maintaining open communication with both the medical staff and the players.

Notably, with teams averaging just 2.7 days between games, the compressed WNBA schedule is raising serious concerns. For Caitlin Clark, it might not just be about recovery; it’s also about sustainability. And for the league, it’s a growing red flag that could be keeping one of its biggest stars on the sidelines more often than fans would like.

Is the WNBA schedule taking a toll on stars like Caitlin Clark?

Since 2019, the WNBA has increased its regular season schedule by nearly 29 percent. While this expansion reflects the league’s growth and rising popularity, it has also added significant physical strain on the players. In 2024, teams played 40 games across 129 days, averaging one game every 3.2 days. This season, that number has risen to 44 games in 119 days. This reduces the average rest window to just 2.7 days between games.

Such a tight turnaround leaves little time for recovery, especially for players dealing with injuries like Caitlin Clark. Unfortunately for the league, this surge in injuries comes at a critical juncture. The WNBA is preparing for major expansion with two new franchises, the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire, set to join in 2026. By 2030, the league aims to grow to 18 teams, adding markets in Detroit, Cleveland, and Philadelphia.

As the league expands, ensuring player health becomes even more urgent. Without adequate recovery time built into the schedule, the growing injuries could pose serious risks to athletes’ longevity and the overall quality of competition. As for Caitlin Clark, there is no set timeline for her return. Her team Indiana Fever, is set to face the Seattle Storm on Sunday, August 3, in an away game.