Caitlin Clark’s Fever Home Preseason Debut Moved Up Due to Pacers’ NBA Playoff Game

May 3, 2024 Jimm Sallivan

Caitlin Clark-mania will take over Indiana a day sooner than fans of the WNBA rookie expected.

The Indiana Fever’s first home preseason game of the 2024 season—Clark’s debut in front of Indiana fans in the WNBA—originally scheduled for Friday, May 10 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, has been moved up to Thursday due to a conflict with the Indiana Pacers, who will be hosting Game 3 of the Eastern conference semifinals against the New York Knicks that night.

“Due to the Pacers home playoff schedule for the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Fever preseason game originally scheduled for Friday, May 10, has been moved to Thursday, May 9, 7 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Tickets for Friday’s game will be valid for Thursday’s rescheduled date. The game will also be shown on the WNBA app,” the team said in a statement posted onto its account on X, formerly Twitter.

The Pacers’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as the Knicks’ victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, led to the scheduling conflict at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the shared home of the Pacers and the Fever.

Clark-mania has taken over the WNBA, as there has been a spike in ticket interest in the Fever, as well as an increase in the number of nationally-televised games the team will play in 2024.

Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, is slated to make her professional basketball debut on Friday night against the Dallas Wings at 8 p.m. ET. The West Des Moines, Ia. native’s regular season debut is scheduled for May 14 against the Connecticut Sun at 7:30 p.m. ET.

3 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Angel Reese Asserts Caitlin Clark Isn’t the Only Reason for Sold Out WNBA Games

Many heated WNBA discussions began after Chicago Sky's Chennedy Carter committed a hard foul on Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark during Saturday's game.

Even though this situation has been at the forefront of fan and media conversations, the players haven't said too much about what happened. Carter refused to answer questions about Clark after the game, and Sky rookie Angel Reese even skipped her media session, which earned her a $1,000 fine from the league.

Reese spoke out on Monday, though, in regards to conversations surrounding her being seen as a "villain" in contrast to Clark, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick. No matter how people talk about her, Reese admitted she's just happy that the WNBA is getting more recognition. But, she highlighted how there's more stars than just Clark in the league right now.

"People are talking about women's basketball, you never would think they'd be talking about women's basketball," Reese said. "People are pulling up to games. We got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas. ... Just looking at that, I'll take that role. I'll take the bad guy role, and I'll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates. I know I'll go down in history. I'll look back in 20 years and be like, the reason why we're watching women's basketball is not just because of one person. It's because of me, too. I want y'all to realize that."

Angel Reese:
"We got celebrities coming to games. Sold out arenas...The reason why we're watching women's basketball is not just because of 1 person. It's because of me, too. I want y'all to realize that."
(via @GNSportsTV, h/t @ClutchPoints)
pic.twitter.com/6AyyiZSdk1
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 3, 2024

Carter broke her silence regarding Clark on Sunday on Threads, commenting "Beside three-point shooting what does she bring to the table man," under a post.

This controversial conversation all started when Carter issued the foul, which was later changed to a Flagrant 1. Fever coach Christie Sides was not happy with the foul, and she even posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, asking for something to be done about fouls like this. Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon even admitted Carter's foul was "not appropriate."

11 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

WNBA Announces Record TV Ratings, Highest Attendance in 26 Years

Business is booming in the WNBA, largely thanks to the highly coveted rookie class headlined by the likes of Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink and Angel Reese, among others.

With the first month of the 2024 season officially past, the league announced its TV ratings and attendance details for the month of May. It comes as no surprise that both are up massively compared to last year, with TV ratings reaching all-time highs and attendance at its highest mark in 26 years.

The league reported that approximately 400,000 fans attended WNBA games in May, the most the league has recorded since 1998. More than half of the league's games have resulted in sellouts, an increase of 156% over last season.

In terms of television viewership, the league noted that WNBA games have logged an average viewership of 1.32 million viewers per game across ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC and CBS. That figure is almost three times more than last season.

The season-opening matchup between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun recorded an average of 2.12 million viewers on ESPN 2, ESPN+ and Disney+, making it the most-watched WNBA game on any Disney platform in history.

Six days later, the Fever's rematch against the Sun on ESPN drew the largest TV audience for any WNBA game on the network with an average of 1.56 millions viewers.

Furthermore, merchandise sales have skyrocketed. The WNBA reports that the WNBAstore website has received a staggering increase in transactions of more than 756% compared to this time last year.

11 Jun 24 Jimm Sallivan

Sun’s DiJonai Carrington Ruthlessly Mocked Caitlin Clark for Flopping

Getting to the foul line is a key part of Caitlin Clark's offensive bag, which sometimes leads to the rookie superstar embellishing contact from defenders in order to secure a foul call from officials.

Clark was awarded a foul during Monday's tilt between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun after officials deemed that DiJonai Carrington reached in while trying to steal the ball.

Carrington clearly did not agree with the assessment from the referees, and she made clear that she felt Clark had flopped on the play. After hearing the whistle sound and the official call her number for a foul, Carrington comically mimed Clark's flopping antics.

Dijonai Carrington and Caitlin Clark 💀
(via @WNBA) pic.twitter.com/50pzPgW6Jf
— Overtime (@overtime) June 10, 2024

Carrington appeared to bump Clark while she tried to drive to the basket, which is what prompted the whistle from the referee. That didn't sit well with Carrington, who indicated to the official that Clark had sold the contact with a flop.

Ultimately, it was Carrington and the Sun who got the last laugh. They picked up an 89–72 victory on their home court, marking the third time this season they've beaten Indiana. Clark was a game-worst -30 and had just 10 points on the night while Carrington led all scorers with 22 points.

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Caitlin Clark’s Fever Home Preseason Debut Moved Up Due to Pacers’ NBA Playoff Game

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