The WNBA left Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark off of their postseason promotional graphic in a bizarre decision omitting one of the faces of the entire league
The WNBA X account released an official playoffs hype graphic featuring some of the league’s best talent ahead of the start of the postseason on Sunday.
However, fans were quick to notice the omission of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark. The WNBA instead opted to include Clark’s teammate Kelsey Mitchell alongside seven other playoff stars.
The graphic also included Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty, Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun, A’Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream, Brittany Griner of the Phoenix Mercury, and Jewell Lloyd of the Seattle Storm.
Many fans in the comments were incensed over Clark’s exclusion from a promotional graphic highlighting the faces of the league.
“Not having Clark on this graphic is yet another example of the WNBA having no clue what they’re doing in regards to marketing their product,” commented RaganRobert, garnering over 13,000 likes. The graphic itself failed to top 9,000 likes.
“The fact that Clark isn’t on this graphic should prove to everyone that WNBA is jealous of her success,” Alex M said, earning over 8,000 likes.
THE STAGE IS SET 🏆
8 Teams. But there can only be 1 winner.
Leave your predictions on who you have being crowned the 2024 WNBA Champs pic.twitter.com/tokyphqKyi
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 20, 2024
Clark was the first pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Fever and dramatically changed the commercial landscape of the league. Rights holders ESPN and Ion Television saw their viewership numbers more than double this year from last.
Clark has also been a superstar on the court, leading the 20-20 Fever to their first playoff appearance since 2016. She’s tied with Kelsey Mitchell for the team lead in points at 19.2 per game.
However, Mitchell has shot 46.8% from the field and 40.2% from three while Clark has converted 41.7% of her shots and 34.4% of her attempts from deep.
Clark has proved to be a more versatile player overall, topping the WNBA with 8.2 assists per game and best Mitchell in rebounding, steals, and assist-to-turnover averaging.
The WNBA playoffs are set to begin on Sunday at 1 pm when the top-seeded New York Liberty host the Atlanta Dream at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Clark and sixth-seeded Fever will travel to Connecticut to face the Sun just a few hours later. Indiana finds themselves as +3.5 road underdogs against the third-seeded Sun.
