The Indiana Fever are having a rough start to the new WNBA season.
A 2-4 record through six games can partially be attributed to bad injury luck, as star guard Caitlin Clark, among a few other notable players, has been sidelined. The Fever have had enough injury issues to take advantage of one of the league's most unique rules: the emergency hardship exception.
Through the exception, Indiana recently added a new guard to its roster, Aari McDonald, just to have enough healthy players to utilize in upcoming games.
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Here's what to know about the WNBA's emergency hardship exception and the latest on the Fever's injured players, including Clark.
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What is the WNBA emergency hardship exception?
The WNBA's emergency hardship exception allows teams to sign a player out of free agency immediately after they fall below 10 healthy rostered players. For an injury-riddled squad, the rule allows a team to add reinforcements when they need it most without having to worry about the usual roster or cap space rules.
As soon as a team falls below that mark of 10 healthy players, they can take advantage of the emergency hardship exception. Once 10 players on the usual roster are healthy again, the team must either give the player they signed via the exception a standard contract, or waive them. A total of 12 players are on a WNBA roster, so three players must be unavailable for a fully-rostered team to use the exception.
In the Fever's case, those currently injured players are Clark, Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson. Clark has been out with a left quad strain since May 26, while Cunningham and Colson both left Friday's game vs. Connecticut with injuries.
That led to Indiana using the exception to sign McDonald, a former Sparks guard who was waived before the current season after averaging 8.7 points and 3.7 assists per game last season. While McDonald may not play much for the Fever, she will provide added insurance if further injuries occur.
The Mercury have also used the hardship exception this season, signing Haley Jones out of free agency after injuries to Kahleah Copper, Natasha Mack and Alyssa Thomas, and the Sparks used it to sign Liatu King.
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Caitlin Clark injury update
The Fever announced on May 26 that Clark would miss a minimum of two weeks with a left quad strain. The guard had never missed a game in her collegiate or professional career until the injury, which has already caused her to miss two games.
“I don’t know when it happened,” Fever coach Stephanie White said, per the Indianapolis Star. “I know (after the Liberty game on May 24) we got a message that something was going on with her leg and they were getting an MRI, and then we got the word.”
White also said that she did not know the specific strain of Clark's injury, but given the two-week timeline, it was likely more of a mild quad strain, or a Grade I. With Clark averaging 19 points, 6.0 assists, and 9.3 rebounds to begin the new season, White said she sees it as an opportunity for her team to grow.
“Certainly we'd rather have it early than late,” White said, per the Indianapolis Star. “It's a great opportunity for our team to find an identity. It's a great opportunity for our team to play in a different way. And I also think it's a great opportunity for Caitlin to watch the game from the sideline and to grow and almost like a coaching kind of mindset, and see some different things that we might be talking about on film, addressing in practice, to see it develop in live action.”
Since Clark has been sidelined, the Fever have gone 0-2 against Washington and Connecticut.
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When will Caitlin Clark return?
Clark is set to be re-evaluated on June 9 after a two-week absence. That means she will miss at least four games in total, but there's also no guarantee that she returns after the two-week timeline.
If the star guard is healthy enough to return to the floor after being re-evaluated, her first opportunity to play again would be June 10 against Atlanta.