We often forget just how young the WNBA is. The WNBA’s upcoming 30th season is set to take things to the next level with another team joining the pack. When the NBA reached this milestone in 1976, it was still searching for its Eureka moment, and the league’s real rise didn’t truly arrive until the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry in the 1980s. In contrast, the WNBA is surging into its third decade, already fueled by headline stars and electric rivalries that have accelerated the league’s growth by at least half a decade.
At the center of it all is the Indiana Fever, and Caitlin Clark, as the ‘Clark effect’ has brought the majority of that growth. However, she has been hamstrung with injuries this season, causing financial losses to the Indiana Fever and, by extension, to the WNBA. Her missing the All-Star game floored the ticket prices on TickPick, which was just one example of the impact of her absence. One of the culprits of her injuries? The tightened schedule and Fever star Sophie Cunningham have an appeal as they continue with the second half of the season.
She told the media, “Yeah, I think that they need to find a way to give us a little bit more of a break. Healthy AB (Aliyah Boston) and Caitlin, you know, they didn’t really ever get there. They were they still had to go to practice. They had to do all that. And these are the top players in our league.”
The league’s top stars barely get a day or two to recover after the exhausting All-Star Weekend before jumping right back into action. By squeezing more games into the same packed timeframe, the schedule was flawed from the start. The league schedules players to compete nearly every other night for stretches as long as 18 days, which pushes up fatigue, increases injuries, and lowers the overall quality of play. No wonder so many of the league’s brightest talents have hit a slump.
When Caitlin Clark was in her 1/23 form, the best players in the rest of the W weren’t any better either. Sabrina Ionescu and Paige Bueckers were 2-17. Kelsey Plum was 4/20, and other players like Breanna Stewart, Arike Ogunbowale, and Chelsea Grey weren’t any better. Plum had a simple answer: “Cause we are tired.” Even Sabrina blamed the schedule for a lackluster intensity in the All-Star Game. The injuries have seen a massive uptick, and for a league that is dependent on a handful of stars, it could easily get a lot worse.
Cunningham further said, “That’s what all is all about, right? So, you kind of want to give them a break so you can get a good product out on the court. Uh, but for me, I think they can they can find two extra days somewhere for us to just relax and sleep.”
Now, that is not an outrageous demand. But the scheduling has its complications, mainly of the WNBA’s own doing. One of the proposed solutions for a better schedule is to extend the season to November. However, the NBA starts by then, and a clash on TV slots and 6 of the teams share arenas with NBA teams. There are various difficulties in extending the season, but as Yahoo Sports’ Maggie Hendricks wrote, scheduling being difficult “isn’t a good reason for it not being done well.”
Can 12 Players Handle a 40-Game Gauntlet Even With Caitlin Clark?
If extending the season beyond October is unrealistic, then the rosters could see some wiggle room. Currently, each team is permitted to have a maximum of 12 players on its roster with a salary cap of $1,507,100. If a player has a long-term injury, then the teams rely on temporary contracts like the emergency hardship one.
Even if that comes into the picture, if a team has at least two players who are unable to play for an extended period. The teams don’t have any option but to play their fit players more if they have short-term injuries. At least 20 players are playing more than 30 minutes per game, while 57 players are playing more than 20 minutes.
Factor in the fact that they have to play at the highest intensity on alternate days, and you have an injury-prone league playing at a subpar standard. Gradually increasing the roster size to 15 would help teams manage injuries more effectively and better control the minutes of their top players. The limit is 15 in the NBA, and while the WNBA doesn’t have the talent pool of that size yet, it also has fewer teams in comparison.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts to an injury during the first half of a WNBA game against the Connecticut Sun on May 20, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The coaches and the players agree. “More bodies would be good,” Indiana Fever President Kelly Krauskopf said with a laugh when asked about the WNBA potentially adding two-way player contracts like the NBA has. Along with the injury management, they also have to cut players who deserve to be there, adding another reason to increase those roster limits. “I think plural, extra spots. Shoot, back in the old days, I think we had 15. We had 15 and two on IR,” said Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White.
More roster spots mean more opportunities, more salaries, and a better shot for overlooked players to stick around. As the league grows, expanding rosters feel less like a question and more like the answer. The current CBA negotiations have this demand as one of the most prioritised points as it pertains to player welfare. While we might not see the limit immediately go to 15, it might coincide with rising revenues and eventually reach there in some years.
The WNBA stands at a crossroads. Its rapid growth, powered by headline stars like Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, is also exposing the cracks of a compressed schedule and limited roster flexibility. As injuries rise and fatigue takes a toll on performance, both players and coaches have exhausted their patience. They need a realistic solution to their problems, and as one of the most important stakeholders, they deserve a solution, fast.
The post Caitlin Clark Factors Into Sophie Cunningham’s Post-All-Star WNBA Appeal appeared first on EssentiallySports.