Clark missed the ASG and 3-Point shootout due to a leg injury suffered just before the break

PublishedJuly 22, 2025 1:24 PM EDT•UpdatedJuly 22, 2025 1:24 PM EDT

The nightmare scenario for the WNBA played out when Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, who was also tabbed as one of the captains for the All-Star Game, suffered a leg injury just before the All-Star break. Thus, Clark – who had also committed to compete in the league's 3-Point Shootout – couldn't compete in any of the weekend's festivities. 

It was a double-whammy for the WNBA because not only was the league's biggest draw set to miss the league's biggest event during the regular season, but the entire weekend was held in Indianapolis at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the home of Clark's Indiana Fever. 

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark missed the WNBA All-Star Game with a leg injury and television ratings suffered as a result. 

(Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)

Well, the results are in and, as expected, the WNBA lost a huge chunk of last year's All-Star Game audience. In 2024, Clark competed on a team with fellow All-Stars who weren't selected to the U.S. Women's National Team against the players that would compete for the USA in the Olympics. 

Clark and her team upset the U.S. Women's National Team in a great game and set a record for television viewership of the league's All-Star Game. The 2024 broadcast peaked at over four million people and averaged 3.4 million viewers on ABC. It more than doubled the previous-best All-Star Game (2003, 1.4 million) and was the most-watched WNBA game in Disney/ESPN history. 

But in 2025, with Clark firmly planted on the bench, the game drew 2.19 million viewers for ABC. That represented a 36% decrease year-over-year. Still, it's a big number for the WNBA, but no doubt a disappointment after last year's record showing. Plus, the game itself was objectively terrible. 

ESPN, in an attempt to do its best PR spin, decided to tout that the league's All-Star viewership was UP – except they used the numbers from 2023, when Clark was still in college at Iowa. 

This is such a strange PR release. ESPN elected to compare the Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest to 2024, but went with the 2023 numbers for the All-Star Game. Of course, it's clear why they chose to do it that way, but it's extremely disingenuous. 

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There's no question that Clark not playing hurt the numbers. However, the league still drew over two million viewers, which would have been unheard of for the WNBA All-Star Game prior to Clark's arrival. The league was almost certainly still buoyed in viewership by the "Caitlin Clark Effect." Even though she didn't play in the game, Clark was still the captain for one of the teams, still appeared at the game to help coach and cheer on her squad, and still made her presence felt. 

It's hard to understand why some people still feel the need to argue that the WNBA is bigger than Caitlin Clark. They have that completely backwards. Caitlin Clark is bigger than the WNBA. The league is just along for the ride. And, at times, quite unwillingly.