Caitlin Clark fans were quick to rebut controversial theories claiming the Indiana Fever are better off without her following their home loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday night.
Clark missed her fifth straight game with a groin injury as she watched her teammates blow a fourth-quarter lead in the final minute of an eventual 89-87 defeat to the Sparks.
After two dominant wins earlier in the week over the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces, some WNBA fans believed the Fever were actually better off without their star player on the court.
Now, after Indiana lost to 10th-place Western Conference rivals Los Angeles for the second time in nine days, those critics have become mute while Clark’s fans are celebrating the demise of such theories.
Earlier in the week, Indiana won its first trophy since 2012 by securing the Commissioner’s Cup on the road against the Lynx. On Thursday, the Fever defeated A’ja Wilson and Las Vegas by 27.
The team now has even records with and without Clark in their lineup, as they are 4-4 with her on the court and 5-5 with the phenom watching from the sidelines.
Caitlin Clark’s fans have rebutted the claims that the Indiana Fever are better off without her
Clark missed her fifth straight game and watched her teammates lose to the LA Sparks
‘It turns out the Fever are not more dangerous without Caitlin Clark,’ one WNBA fan concluded.
‘RIP to “The Fever are better without Caitlin Clark” July 2025-July 2025,’ a second Clark supporter stated.
‘If you can’t see how incredibly limited the Indiana Fever are on offense without Caitlin Clark, you’re either not watching or don’t know what you’re watching,’ a third continued.
‘The team everyone says is better and more dangerous without Caitlin Clark just lost to the Sparks twice in a week #Fever,’ a final fan concluded, with the famous GIF of battle rapper Conceited.
Clark could return to the court on Wednesday night when the Fever host the expansion Golden State Valkyries.
The former Iowa guard missed five games at the beginning of the WNBA season with a quadriceps injury and has no stated timetable for her return to the court in present day.
Saturday’s miserable loss is two weeks before the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis, where Clark was voted a captain despite her multiple absences.
She was named an All-Star Game captain by being one of the two players receiving the most fan votes. Lynx star Napheesa Collier and Clark will now have the opportunity to draft from a pool of the other WNBA All-Stars to create two teams ahead of the festivities.
A collection of social-media messages from Caitlin Clark fans about the Fever’s Saturday loss
Clark gets her second All-Star selection in her sophomore professional season, having represented ‘Team WNBA’ in last year’s extravaganza against Team USA before the Paris Olympics.
Before Clark’s second multi-game injury absence of the season, her teammates were rallying around her after a few dismal performances.
Despite Clark’s injury-return game against the New York Liberty on June 14, after missing five games, and the scrappy contest against the Connecticut Sun a few days later, the WNBA phenom’s usually sharpshooting touch has been anything but ironclad.
Against the Seattle Storm, Clark was 3-for-13 from the field, including an 0-of-6 mark from 3-point range. In the Fever’s two previous games before Tuesday night’s victory, Clark combined for a 1-of-17 mark from beyond the arc, an unimaginable two-game line by the lofty standards set by the point guard.
