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Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has shot just 1-of-23 from 3-point range over her last three games before going on the injured list with a strained groin. But Clark is far from the only WNBA player to experience shooting woes of late.
In fact, she’s just one of several stars who are struggling to put the ball in the basket, and Los Angeles Sparks star Kelsey Plum says that issue comes down to a simple fact: players are “tired.”
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— correlation (@nosyone4) June 28, 2025
Los Angeles Sparks Star Kelsey Plum Blames Poor WNBA Shooting On ‘Tired’ Players
Basketball analyst Trysta Krick posted on X that “Everyone wants to talk about Caitlin Clark’s shooting slump (1-23 from 3 in her last 3 games) but did you know: Sabrina: 2-17 from 3 (last 2 Games). Paige: 2-17 from 3 (last 5). Marina Mabrey: 2-17 from 3 (last 3). Kelsey Plum: 4-22 from 3 (last 4). Arike: 4–17 from 3 (last 3). The entire WNBA is in a shooting slump …”
The post eventually hit Instagram, where Plum found it and noted that players are dealing with fatigue. The WNBA switched from a 40-game regular season to 44 games starting this season, and Phoenix Mercury star Satou Sabally recently called out league commissioner Cathy Engelbert over the change.
“Cathy (Engelbert) added a lot of games, and us as players, recovery is so important. We put our bodies on the line every single time and we had nine games in 18 days. It’s not really responsible for a commissioner,” Sabally said. “I think other teams have like three back-to-backs, so it’s just a lot of things that we could clean up in terms of scheduling…over the course of a long season, that’s really hard to do.”
Now, the WNBA schedule is tougher now than it’s ever been before. But it’s still significantly shorter and more spread out than a traditional NBA season. And if you want a larger TV contract, you have to provide more games for TV networks to air. That just comes with the territory.
Are players tired? Probably. It would be surprising if they weren’t. But if the league wants to continue to grow, players and teams will just have to figure it out moving forward.