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The announcement came nearly two months after Clark sustained her groin injury on July 15. At first, expectations were that she might return before the end of the season, but the recovery process stalled. Clark also suffered a bone bruise in her left ankle during an individual workout on August 7, which further delayed her progress. The Fever’s medical staff remained cautious about long-term risks and ultimately decided it was best for Clark to prioritize her full health heading into 2026. Support for Clark poured in across the basketball world, highlighted by a message from LeBron James. The Los Angeles Lakers star commented on her Instagram post: “Minor setback for a MAJOR COMEBACK!! Rest up, get healthy and be YOU! 🙏🏾🫡👑”
Caitlin Clark ruled out for the remainder of the season after playing only 13 games
Alexa Philipou: BREAKING: Caitlin Clark has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, she has announced Clark was limited to 13 games and last played on 7/15. A crushing outcome for the Fever, who have 5 season-ending injuries, & for Clark, whose sophomore season never fully got going
Do you think WNBA players should make more money? Michael Porter Jr: I would love to see them make more money. Yeah, I would love to see people go support — and them get NBA TV deals so they can make more money. Yeah, I would love to see that for sure. And I think they’re headed in the right direction.
Matthew Caldwell is stepping down as the business operations president of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and accepting a 10-year deal as CEO of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. The teams announced the deal. Caldwell will begin overseeing “day-to-day business operations and high-level strategic initiatives for the Timberwolves, Lynx, and (the G League’s) Iowa Wolves” on Sept. 2.
Scott Agness: Tyrese Haliburton is sitting courtside for the first Fever game this season. He’s usually up in a suite. And Connor McCaffery is wearing a Nike hoodie with Clark’s logo
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Nick DePaula: Caitlin Clark’s full signature apparel collection will launch on October 1. Shoes expected in 2026. “To me, this is more than just a logo, it’s a dream come true. People always talk about leaving your mark on the game — and this is another way I can do that.”
WNBA, WNBPA likely headed to lockout if no deadline extension
The WNBA and Women’s National Basketball Players Association have just over 60 days to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement, and it looks increasingly likely that the Oct. 31 deadline will come and go without a deal. One source familiar with negotiations tells Front Office Sports that an extension of that deadline will likely be necessary to avoid an immediate work stoppage.
Haliburton said, “It’s very important” to have someone to talk to during this time. Haliburton added that his relationship with Clark has grown outside of basketball, but said the two can relate to how defenses guard them on the court. “Our offensive (and) defensive issues are the same sometimes. Everything is really similar between us,” Haliburton said.
”It sucks that she’s been hurt for as long as she has. But just for us to be able to communicate even in our recovery, we lift at the same time, so it’s just us two in the weight room,” Haliburton told reporters Saturday. “We spend a lot of time together. It’s good to have each other to lean on in a time like right now.”
Lauren L. Williams. New Hawks big N'Faly Dante is here at the Dream vs. Liberty game.
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A former hooper at Harvard, Governor Maura Healey, remains a vocal proponent of a WNBA franchise in Boston, ASAP. The Globe learned she is brokering a potential partnership of Pagliuca and new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm to pave the way for the Sun to come to Boston. Perhaps, that will move the needle with the WNBA, but the league remains primed to stick to its pecking order for awarding franchises, which has Boston in the basement. It also keeps pointing out that Boston was not among the 12 cities that submitted bids for expansion franchises this last go-round when teams were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia, all of which will be owned by the NBA owners in those cities.
The Sun’s leadership presented the offer, a $325 million bid from financier Steve Pagliuca, to the WNBA executives, including commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Pagliuca had been a Boston Celtics minority owner for more than two decades — he’ll retain his shares for three years after the Celtics sale closed this month — and had gained an exclusive negotiating window. The tribe and Pagliuca had discussions about how long the team would stay at the Mohegan Sun Arena, but ultimately, the goal was to move to Boston and build a practice facility. The offer did not sit well with the WNBA. While the rest of the meeting between Sun and league executives was placid, a WNBA executive later called Allen & Company, the investment bank running the sale for the Sun, and expressed unhappiness, saying that the Pagliuca deal was an unapproved attempt at relocation. (Allen & Company declined comment for this article.) There has been little contact between the league and franchise leaders since then. Engelbert did not present the sale to the rest of the league’s board of governors for approval, multiple sources familiar with the conversation said, striking what could have been a league-high franchise fee with a pocket veto. They and others were granted anonymity so they could speak freely. Front Office Sports was the first to report the agreement and that the WNBA ignored it.
Though the WNBA and the Mohegan Tribe have rarely communicated since that July meeting, the league has made its leaders aware that it has one clear option to resolve this dispute: They could sell the Sun to the league for $250 million, which would then sell it to Tilman Fertitta and allow him to move the team to Houston, multiple sources said.
Those with knowledge of the sales process said they believe the league is trying to control the flow of markets into the WNBA and leave open the possibility of getting a much larger expansion fee for a team in Boston down the line. (Multiple sources said they believe that the WNBA is not done expanding and that estimates for a Boston franchise have ranged between $400-$500 million). Letting the Sun move there now would create a shortcut into that market, as well as deprive the WNBA of expansion fees for a much smaller relocation fee, and let that city jump ahead of Houston.
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