Women's Fastbreak On SI

Caitlin Clark Tapped Out Before Fever Season Even Ended

Caitlin Clark choked on the court before the Fever's game against the Mystics even began on Thursday.

Grant Young

Sep 11, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts to missing a 3-pointer Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Mandatory Credit: Grace Smith
Sep 11, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts to missing a 3-pointer Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Mandatory Credit: Grace Smith / Grace Smith/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever have their final game of the 2024 regular season against the Washington Mystics on Thursday.

Given that Indiana has already locked up the No. 6 seed in the playoffs, this game is essentially meaningless for them (aside from the fact that they'll finish the year with a record over .500 if they win, but that's semantics).

Therefore, it's unlikely that most of the Fever's top players (like Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell) will play anywhere close to their average minutes per game against Washington.

What's for sure is that the Fever's morale appears to be high on Thursday. This is proven by a clip of Fever player Katie Lou Samuelson getting Clark sprawled out on the ground and placed in a chokehold during Indiana's pregame shootaround.

The Washington Post's Kareem Copeland posted a video of this exchange on X with the caption, "Gonna go out on a limb and say Caitlin Clark and the Fever are loose before tonight’s regular season finale as they’ve already locked up the No. 6 seed."

The video shows Clark tapping out to Samuelson's choke, the two getting up with big smiles on their faces, then Clark running back to one side of the court.

While Fever head coach Christie Sides could reasonably be worried about her franchise player getting hurt in this exchange, her laughing and clapping in the background shows that she's not too concerned.

Given how stressful it must have been for Indiana to climb back into playoff position after starting the season with a 1-8 record, they deserve to let loose a little bit on Thursday before the playoffs begin.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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