The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game was almost certainly set up in Indianapolis with Caitlin Clark in mind. The league will now play the game without her.

The Indiana Fever star announced in a statement that she won’t participate in this weekend’s All-Star festivities due to a groin injury she aggravated during a game on Tuesday, taking the league’s biggest ratings draw out of one of its marquee events. This year’s game is the first time Indiana has ever hosted an ASG in the franchise’s 26 years of existence.

“I am incredibly sad and disappointed to say I can’t participate in the 3-Point Contest or the All-Star Game,” Clark wrote. “I have to rest my body. I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action and I’m looking forward to helping Sandy [Brondello] coach our team to a win.”

Injuries have bothered Clark nearly all season. She missed five games between May and June with a quad injury, then four games with the original groin injury in late June. It’s been a struggle for the Fever overall this season, but the hope was she healthy when she came back last week.

It’s been a difficult season for Clark on the court as well. Her 5.1 turnovers per game lead the WNBA by a wide margin and she’s taken a step backward in nearly every scoring statistic after a historic rookie season.

Despite her struggles, Clark was the leading vote-getter in the All-Star voting and remains the WNBA’s biggest draw. Not having her for the All-Star Game, particularly the one seemingly designed to showcase her as the new face of the league in a city hosting its first game, partially undoes months of planning for the WNBA and its ASG stakeholders.

Clark was the captain of Team Clark, which is still set to face off against Napheesa Collier’s team on Saturday. In addition to its namesake, Team Clark lost starting forward Satou Sabally earlier this week after she announced she would not be able to return from an ankle injury. A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu and Clark’s teammate Aliyah Boston represent the team’s other starters.

The Fever, meanwhile, have the rest of their season to worry about. They finished the first half with the league’s sixth-best record at 12-11, but are just a game and a half away from dropping out of the playoffs entirely. Indiana entered this season with obvious title aspirations after a drought-breaking playoff appearance last season, supplementing Clark and Boston with veteran talent like Natasha Howard, Sophie Cunningham and DeWanna Bonner (not all of them worked out).

Even if they make the playoffs, the Fever need a healthy and effective Clark to have a chance at a championship. She has less than two months to get there before the regular season ends.