To me it’s pretty simple business analytics. If I were the Owner/GM of the Indiana Fever I would ask Coach Sides a simple question: “Did 17,000 people pay money and sell out my arena last night to watch you play Coach or did they come to watch Caitlin Clark play basketball?”
Well the coach, owner and GM also need to consider other numbers. Remember Clark played a full NCAA season already, plus getting to the championship in the tournament. Then she had like 2 weeks off before the WNBA preseason started. Now she’s on hook for a 40 game season of longer games. And probably going to the Olympics in July. There’s a good chance she’s going to play what her body considers to be 3 full seasons in the course of 10 months. Nobody wants her to have a Zion Williamson type career. I mean he’s still doing well, when he plays, but he doesn’t get to play nearly as much as was hoped. And she did tweak her ankle last week.
Sometimes a team has to make a business decision. The smart money is to limit her time this season, limit her wear and tear, and get her through to some well deserved rest come fall. It’s great to get full houses this year. But they want full houses for multiple years.