Caitlin Clark hopes to get out of a mini shooting slump and help the Indiana Fever to another WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship.
The in-season tournament begins this week with the Fever trying to become the first team to repeat as champions.
They’ll need more from their superstar guard to have a chance. Indiana has dropped two straight games with Clark struggling from the field. She was a combined 4-for-19 from the field — the worst two-game stretch in her young career.
Clark played just 22 minutes in a loss to Portland on Saturday as she got into foul trouble. She finished the game with just a season-low six points.
“It’s hard when you foul, and you know, I just need to do a better job being straight up, keep the defender in front of me … just move my feet a little bit better and yeah, definitely some tough ones,” Clark said after the Portland loss. “But it’s just basketball, just a game, you know? Learn from it, watch the film and come back next game and be ready to go.”
Indiana won last season’s Commissioner’s Cup without Clark, who was sidelined with an injury, when the Fever beat Minnesota. In the five years of the tournament, there have been five different champions. Only Las Vegas has gone on to win the WNBA Finals the same season — doing so in 2022.
The Commissioner’s Cup will run from Monday through June 17. The team with the best record in each conference will advance to the title game. The team with the best winning percentage in Cup play will host the championship. The winning team will play for $500,000. In addition teams will be playing for $200,000 in donations to charities of their choice.
Each victory is worth $3,000 and a loss is $1,000 for the charity. The Commissioner’s Cup champion will receive an extra $10,000. The runner-up will get $5,000.
Power poll rankings
Minnesota moved into the No. 1 spot in the AP power poll this week. The Lynx beat last week’s top team Atlanta and sit atop the WNBA standings. The Dream fell to second. Las Vegas and Dallas were next. Golden State was fifth and Portland jumped out to sixth. New York, Indiana and Toronto were the next three. Los Angeles was 10th with Chicago and Washington following the Sparks. Seattle, Phoenix and Connecticut rounded out the poll.
Player of the week
Jessica Shepard of Dallas was the AP player of the week. She had 22 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists for her second triple-double of the season in the Wings’ win over Las Vegas. Shepard, who came to Dallas in the offseason, became the second player ever to have a triple-double with more than 20 points and 20 rebounds, joining Alyssa Thomas. Other players receiving votes included Carla Leite of Portland and Natasha Howard of Minnesota.
Milestones
Becky Hammon became the second-fastest coach to reach 150 wins when the Aces beat the Valkyries on Sunday. She did it in 205 games, only seven off the record set by Van Chancellor when he coached the Houston Comets. … Nneka Ogwumike will move into sole possession of fifth place all time in WNBA history for rebounds with her next board. She’s currently tied with Tamika Catchings with 3,315. She passed Lisa Leslie on Saturday in a loss to Connecticut. Rebekkah Brunson is fourth with 3,356. Tina Charles holds the record with 4,262 rebounds in her career.
Game of the week
Toronto at New York, Wednesday. Coach Sandy Brondello returns to New York after parting ways with the team after last season. She led the Liberty to their first WNBA championship in 2024. Now she has the expansion Tempo above .500 early in the season.
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