WNBA Crisis Stems From Piggybacking on Caitlin Clark Effect, Claims Analyst

The ‘Caitlin Clark effect’ might not be a good thing. While the Indiana Fever star has brought a lot of attention to the WNBA, boosted ticket sales, attendance numbers, and the league’s overall popularity, there’s one massive issue with what’s happening – over-reliance on Clark’s popularity. Depending on one player, and one player alone, for the growth and progress of an entire league is a recipe for disaster. Because what happens if she gets injured? What happens if she only plays 13 games in a 44-game season? That is what an analyst has now eluded to.

Isn’t it odd that this year’s All-Star Game was compared to 2023 rather than last year? The headlines were talking about how 2.2M viewers are better than 800,000, but what about the 3.44M viewers from last season? Injuries have taken their toll on the Indiana Fever star and on the league as a whole. Caitlin Clark has been out of commission for most of the 2025 WNBA season, and we’re beginning to feel the effects heading into the playoffs.

However, according to an analyst, it was only a matter of time before all of this happened. TheFlightMike, a popular YouTuber and basketball analyst, discussed this topic in a video from September 10. “Caitlin Clark, the player who was supposed to be the WNBA’s golden ticket to mainstream success, has only played in 13 games this season. I wonder why that is.” He said, showing clips of extreme physicality against the Fever guard. Applying physical force against Clark has been the go-to strategy for coaches around the league for the last two years, but is that doing more harm than good for the W?

Not entirely. Mike focused on Clark taking a lot of physical abuse, but there were other factors he highlighted as well. “It’s not like they tried to keep her out of the Olympics, and it’s not like they were refusing to promote her.” The YouTuber pointed out, emphasizing the pushback that CC got when she came into the league. Sure, she made the All-Star Game, but could you imagine just how big her cultural impact would’ve been if she played in the 2024 Olympics? Think of Michael Jordan in 1984 and you’ll have your answer.

On the flip side, the Indiana Fever star is literally indispensable for the W, and the analyst was quick to drive that point home. “Now, Caitlin Clark only played in 13 games out of 41…This is the same player who brought 2.45 million viewers to the WNBA draft. That’s a 307% increase from the previous year. This is the player who helped the league achieve 23 games with over 1 million viewers, more than they’d had in the previous decade combined. And she’s been watching from the bench for most of the season.”

You don’t need to look any further than the season-opener against the Chicago Sky on May 18, 2025, to prove his point. This Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry game netted 2.7 million viewers on ABC, breaking records through and through. There’s a direct correlation between CC’s presence and the prosperity of the league. And, when we look at the stats, we find that Caitlin Clark isn’t used to missing games.

As Mike pointed out, this is “absolutely unprecedented” from the Indiana Fever star, who didn’t miss a single game in four years at Iowa, or during her rookie season in the W. “The timing is absolutely brutal.” He added. “The league just locked in an 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal largely built on the Caitlyn Clark effect. And now their biggest draw is done for the year.” 

Now that we’ve got an idea of just how important CC is for the WNBA, let’s revisit our earlier question: What exactly happens when she’s not on the court? “The viewership numbers tell the whole story. When Clark plays, Fever games average 1.26 million viewers. When she doesn’t, Fever viewership on NBA TV drops about 40%.” TheFlightMike said, hinting at a huge dependence on the Indiana Fever star.

Considering how important Caitlin Clark is to the WNBA, you’d think the league would look out for her more, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. But is there a way they could’ve prevented this disaster of a season for the Indiana Fever star? We think there is.

Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve: Could the WNBA have kept Caitlin Clark on the floor?

Women’s basketball is physical, gritty, and not something that should be taken lightly. Although WNBA athletes don’t have the same high-flying finishes or chasedown blocks that their male counterparts do, they’re very physical. Bumps, shoves, pushes, fights, all of it is commonplace in the W, and it’s something Caitlin Clark sees on a day-to-day basis. In fact, one could make the argument that she sees more physicality than anyone else in the league.

The thing about CC is that she’s an amazing shooter and ball-handler. She’s effective and creative while making space, and that presents a major challenge for defenders in the WNBA. How do you stop Caitlin Clark from reaching her spots? Well, a few teams figured out the answer, and it was physicality.

Legends like Candace Parker even talked about on a podcast in June 7. “When you are a generational talent… you’re gonna experience the physicality,” The Sparks legend said. “The scouting report is to stop you. And a lot of it is to be physical. Do you take a couple extra licks from people? Yeah.”

However, there’s a limit to how much contact a body can take before getting injured. Imagine being pressed full-court, bumped, nudged, and even swung at for 40 minutes a night. How long would anyone’s body last before getting injured? Not long, it seems. So, was Clark’s injury truly a stroke of bad luck? Or did it have to do with the bruises she got on a nightly basis?

According to coach Stephanie White, the defensive tactics have a huge role to play in Clark’s injuries this year. “Someone who has the ball in her hands as much as Caitlin, the physicality that she’s experiencing for 40 minutes, it causes you to load differently, It causes you to explode differently. It causes you to accelerate and decelerate differently.” She said in mid-July about the Fever star’s recurring groin issues. “It’s not the free-flowing movement that we want to see when it comes to freedom of movement.” White further added. So, there’s quite obviously an issue that needs to be addressed here.

No one’s saying that the league should coddle Caitlin Clark. Being physical on defense is definitely not a crime. However, the question that everyone’s posing is this: How much is too much, and where do we draw the line? A lot of analysts and experts think this is something the WNBA should’ve considered a long time ago. Cathy Engelbert has to figure out a solution to this problem for the league, and she has to do it soon.