Caitlin Clark's injury is a massive test for the WNBA
Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here’s Mike Sykes.
The Indiana Fever have a rough road ahead of them. Caitlin Clark suffered a quad strain, which the team says will keep her out for the next couple of weeks.
In the micro, that's not a huge deal. Especially not on the court. Clark is an outstanding player and the straw that stirs the drink for Indiana, as we've seen time and again. The team is a legitimate contender with her on the court.
But this will only be for a few weeks. The WNBA season is just beginning and the Fever should have enough top-end talent to hold up without her for a bit between Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard. This team should be fine.
But what I'm most interested in is not how Indiana holds up. Instead, what will be fascinating to me is seeing how the league itself holds up.
There's no question that the WNBA's surge in popularity over the last couple of years is largely due to Clark's presence. Don't get me wrong — she's not the only player who drives fans to the league, but she's undoubtedly the most popular player in the W at this point. That's why the All-Star game is in Indianapolis. It's why the Fever have 41 nationally televised games this season. People want to see her. They'll take every opportunity to do so. That's worked to the league's advantage in a major way so far.
Now, for at least the next four games, the league faces a massive test without her presence on the court. New fans have become passionate about the WNBA because they're passionate about Clark. We'll get to see how that passion translates when she's not on the court.
The Fever will play the Mystics twice (once at home, once on the road), the Sun at home and the Sky on the road. All four games are nationally televised, with the two Mystics matchups coming on NBA TV, the Sun game coming on Ion and the Sky game on CBS. Both the Sky and the Mystics shifted to bigger arenas to accommodate more fans for the road games.
A RIVALRY DISSECTED: Taking a deeper look at the Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese rivalry
We're about to get a glimpse of how real the Clark halo effect is. Clark's popularity has been a boon for the league, but the question is whether her supporters will support the WNBA even when she isn't there. Simply put, are Caitlin Clark fans also Indiana Fever fans now? We're about to find out.
Those arenas should still be filled. The ratings should still be solid. Fans should still come out to support the Fever, even if their favorite player isn't playing. If they do, then we know the Clark experiment as a whole is working. She truly is a rising tide lifting all ships, as they say.
If they don't, it's okay. It's not time to panic. But it'll also be clear that the WNBA needs to reassess its strategy around Clark. Allow her to be the star that she is, obviously. But perhaps, in this scenario, the league needs to do more to build hype for some of its other stars.
It's too soon to say. The games won't start until Wednesday, so we can't have answers before then. But when they do, hopefully, we'll all still be watching.
Growing up right before our eyes
The Oklahoma City Thunder only won 22 games four years ago. They were one of the worst teams in the NBA. Chris Paul left. They were trading for a bunch of players nobody wanted and stealing everyone's draft picks in the process.
Here we are, four years later, and this team is on the precipice of the NBA Finals with a 3-1 lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves. I could not have imagined we'd be here today, but here we are. This team has the juice.
It's all brought to you by OKC's big three, which felt as dominant as ever in Game 4 of this series. They combined for 95 of the Thunder's 128 total points in this one. And Oklahoma City needed every single bucket to win this game.
We throw around the term "big three" these days. A lot of those trios haven't quite earned the term yet. Some of them are really big twos — maybe two-and-a-halfs, at best.
This Thunder trio became a legitimate big three on Monday. This felt like the LeBron James Heatles or the Durant-Russ-Harden Thunder back in the day. It was just pure dominance, all the way around. If a play needed to be made, they made it.
I don't know if this team wins a title, but if it does, this will be one of its defining moments.
Naomi Osaka forever
Naomi Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam winner. She has achieved feats in her sport that some of her peers can only dream of. We've seen it.
That's why it's so hard to watch her struggle to get back to that place. After losing to Paula Badosa in the first round of the French Open, it's hard not to feel for her.
But what makes you root so hard for her isn't what she's done in the past. Instead, it's the person she is. Osaka has always displayed a measure of authenticity that's not very easy for anyone to share, let alone a professional athlete of her caliber.
We got another glimpse of just that after her French Open exit when she was asked if losses these days are harder than they used to be.
"As time goes on I just feel like I should be doing better. ... I hate disappointing people. So, like, even with Patrick [Mouratoglou], I was thinking, he goes from working with like the greatest player ever to, like, what the [expletive] is this?"
That's so tough to hear. But that's real. That's a human being who is being genuinely hard on herself after failure. That's something we can all surely relate to in one way or another.
I've always been rooting for Osaka to make a comeback and win big on the tour. But now, I'll be rooting harder than ever.
Quick hits: Blake Griffin is a rookie again ... Alex Palou hates whole milk ... and more
— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky chatting it up with Blake Griffin about joining Amazon's NBA broadcast team for next season.
— Michelle Martinelli talked with Indy 500 winner Alex Palou about winning the race for the first time and how to handle the milk. This was so fun.
— Christian D'Andrea has one glaring weakness for each NFL team heading into the summer.
— Mission: Impossible smashed the Memorial Day box office. Caroline Darney has deets.
— Tyrese Haliburton's dad is finally allowed at Pacers games again.
— Timothée Chalamet is a true blue Knicks fan. Don't ever question it.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading today. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️