Only a few could have predicted that Caitlin Clark sitting out a single game would snowball into one of the league’s messiest off-court stories this season. It all traces back to the Portland Fire game on May 20, when the Fever failed to comply with the league’s injury reporting policy while managing Clark’s absence. Technically, they escaped without any serious punishment. However, the scrutiny that came with it is proving harder to shake.

Two-time WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike is the latest voice to share two cents on Clark’s episode. Speaking on Sue Bird’s podcast, Ogwumike doubled down on the messy situation that came to light amid confusing narratives.

“I think sometimes when too many side explanations are going on, people are like, what’s really going on here?” Ogwumike said. “You know what I’m saying? We’re reading the injury report, now we’re reading into the words of the coach, and then the coach is not like being standing 10 toes down on it. It just gets to confusion. I have moved on. I’m not trying to get lost in the sauce.”

On paper, Clark missed the game due to a back injury. Now, on the surface, it shouldn’t ring a bell. We saw Clark move to the team’s locker room during the regular-season opener due to back stiffness. This persistent injury also forced her to miss the practice session before the Portland Fire game.

But even then, the Fever coaching staff didn’t mention Clark as ‘probable’ or ‘questionable’. Just two hours before the tip-off, CC was ruled out of the game. Head coach Stephanie White did explain later in the post-game press conference that they were expecting Clark to suit up.

“Not everybody that doesn’t practice or gets a pro day is on the injury report; that happens all the time. She wasn’t listed on the injury report earlier because we expected her to play,” she said.

That’s the narrow margin that the Indiana Fever crossed. Now, it needs to be understood that the Fever’s decision wouldn’t have caused a stir if they had put her in the ‘probable’ category in the report. And given her unavailability in the practice session, it would have been the generous thing to follow.

After all, it’s a regular occurrence in the NBA and WNBA to downgrade a player from probable to ruled out in the event of a serious injury. But the Indiana Fever didn’t follow the same roadmap. As a result, it violated the league policy requiring every team to share its players’ availability before 5 p.m. local time the day before the game.

This decision went much beyond just the league’s policy and rules. Instead, it led to an uncomfortable narrative around Clark and the team that no one saw coming.

Many fans believed that the Indiana Fever’s decision to rest Clark was pre-planned. Some of them insisted that it was part of the team’s workload management plan for Clark, a scheme that the Indiana Fever is outlining for the Fever guard after an injury marred last season.

But an eyewitness at the Portland Fire game overheard a conversation just after the game that put these narratives to rest.

“The trainer came to CC’s mum,” the eyewitness said via her TikTok handle @mrssalisasi. “Her mum said, “How’s she going?” Obviously, they tried to speak discreetly next to me, but it was something along the lines of she pulled up, and we tried to see if she was alright, but we just made the decision to sit her out.”

From a general perspective, it’s quite clear that Caitlin Clark isn’t fully fit. She has been seen using heat pads and back braces to manage this lingering injury. But the Indiana Fever aren’t making the same mistake. They have figured out a way to comply with the league’s policy while dealing with Clark’s fragile injury.

Stephanie White explains the plan to deal with Caitlin Clark

Stephanie White and the Indiana Fever learned from their mistakes early. We saw a glimpse of it in the Indiana Fever’s latest game against the Golden State Valkyries. Initially, the Fever’s injury report deemed Clark as probable. But just before the game, she was upgraded to be available and even started the game.

The Fever’s head coach clearly stated in a media availability session before the game that it will be the way going forward with Clark.

“The most important thing is that what happened last week, we don’t want that to happen again. Just to make sure that there’s clarity and no issues with league policy, I think that we will (list her as probable), White said. “You can expect to see it ‘probable’ going forward.”

This plan gives the Indiana Fever the room to make last-minute changes to Clark’s availability in a game. If CC even gets a last-minute niggle or discomfort, the team would have the leverage to downgrade her in the report. It will allow the Fever to stay in compliance with the league’s injury reporting policy.

Nevertheless, Caitlin Clark’s lingering injury is a concern for the Indiana Fever. She isn’t just the fulcrum of the team’s offensive engine. Instead, she is also the field general who dictates the game on the court. Currently, CC is leading her team in points (22.5) and assists (8.5).

These stats are substantial enough to understand the aspects the Fever would need to cover in the event of a season-ending injury to Clark, as was the case last season.