• Caitlin Clark posted 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in just 24 minutes in the Fever’s 89-78 win over Seattle
• The win was Indiana’s first at Gainbridge Fieldhouse this season, improving them to 2-2
• Clark extended her own WNBA record with her 12th career 20-point, 10-assist game
• Aliyah Boston missed the game with a lower-leg injury, snapping a streak of 127 consecutive WNBA games played
• Clark was refreshingly direct after the win: “No reason to press. Get my teammates involved.”

Caitlin Clark only needed 24 minutes to put the Indiana Fever on her back — and she did it without even breaking a sweat on the shot chart. The 24-year-old finished with 21 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and two blocks in Indiana’s 89-78 victory over the Seattle Storm on Sunday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, giving the Fever their first home win of the 2026 season.

After a slow start efficiency-wise through Indiana’s first three games, Clark looked like herself again — controlled, patient, and absolutely surgical. She shot 5-for-10 from the field, 2-for-4 from three, and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line. The Fever, as a team, were a flawless 22-for-22 at the stripe.

Asked about her performance after the game, Clark didn’t sugarcoat it — and didn’t oversell it either.

“No reason to press. Get my teammates involved,” she said. “Take what the defense gives me. I thought I did a good job of getting to the line, so there’s no need to probably shoot a bunch of shots. I mean, I only played 23 minutes but I also got to the line nine times. … I think that’s what I can do a better job of — really trying to get to the line and free points.”

It’s a remarkably clear-eyed take from someone who’s been under a microscope since the season opened. Clark had been struggling to find her shot in the early weeks, but started heating up late in Friday’s 104-102 loss to the Washington Mystics. Sunday was the full follow-through.

A Record That’s Already Becoming Untouchable

Sunday’s double-double was Clark’s 12th career game with at least 20 points and 10 assists — extending her own WNBA record. She’s done it in just 57 career games, and as CBS Sports noted, she technically broke the record in Friday’s game against the Mystics after the WNBA issued two stat corrections crediting her with two additional assists, pushing that performance to 32 points and 10 assists. She’s also the only player in league history with multiple 30-point, 10-assist games.

She’s now opened the 2026 season with four straight games of 20-plus points and at least five assists — tying the longest such streak to start a season in WNBA history. It was also her 21st career double-double, moving her past Erlana Larkins into fifth in Fever franchise history. In 57 games.

Clark was also candid about the team’s overall showing when asked about the first home win.

“I thought we played with good pace, I thought we took good shots,” she said. “I don’t think we fouled as much in the first quarter as we did the next three quarters, so that probably helped us — probably could have played better defense there, too. Played better defense in the second half, but thought we were moving the ball well, thought we were getting good shots. We’re getting to the free throw line.”

The Supporting Cast Showed Up

Indiana didn’t need Clark to go nuclear because everyone else did their part. Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham each dropped 17 points — Cunningham coming off the bench and combining with Mitchell for 17 third-quarter points that stretched the lead to 77-58 heading into the fourth. Lexie Hull added nine points and four rebounds, and Myisha Hines-Allen filled in admirably for injured All-Star Aliyah Boston with eight points, six rebounds and four assists.

Boston’s absence was significant. She missed the first game of her WNBA career due to a lower right leg injury, ending a streak of 127 consecutive games played and 275 straight starts that dated back to her college days. The Fever managed just fine Sunday, but her health will be worth watching as the season ramps up.

Indiana’s defense also deserved credit after the team had surrendered 104 points in each of its first two home games. Against Seattle, the Fever held the Storm to 35 percent shooting, limited their frontcourt to 17 points and won the paint battle 50-30. Seattle trailed by as many as 20 in the second half.

For the Storm, Natisha Hiedeman led all scorers with 19 points and LSU rookie Flau’jae Johnson continued to make an impression with 14 points and six rebounds in just her fourth WNBA appearance.

The Fever were also sloppy with the ball — 20 turnovers is a number Clark will want to clean up — but they overcame it with their dominance everywhere else.

Indiana is back at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday to host the Portland Fire, the third game of a four-game homestand. After that comes the Golden State Valkyries on Friday, before the Fever hit the road to close out May. June brings 12 games, seven of them at home.

The Fever are finding their footing. And when Clark decides the free-throw line is her best weapon? That’s a very difficult team to stop.

The post Caitlin Clark’s Blunt Take After Fever’s First Home Win appeared first on Cream.

• Caitlin Clark appeared alongside Morgan Wallen at his sold-out Indianapolis concert just hours after the Fever’s 107-104 season-opening loss to the Dallas Wings.
• Clark walked Wallen out as part of his signature celebrity walkout tradition on Night 2 of his Still The Problem Tour at Lucas Oil Stadium.
• The appearance drew backlash from some WNBA fans who cited Wallen’s 2021 racial slur controversy.
• Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham cheered Clark on, calling her a “badass bitch” on her Instagram Story.
• Clark had previously left the game twice to get her back adjusted but played a team-high 31 minutes and scored 20 points.

Caitlin Clark had one of the most packed Saturdays in recent sports memory — and it wasn’t even over at the final buzzer. Hours after playing through a back issue in the Indiana Fever’s narrow 107-104 season-opening loss to the Dallas Wings, the 24-year-old WNBA star walked out alongside country superstar Morgan Wallen to kick off his sold-out concert at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The crowd lost it. The internet lost it. Not always in the same way.

Wallen, who was wrapping up a two-night stop in Indianapolis on his Still The Problem Tour, has made celebrity walkouts a signature part of his live show — he’s done it with Peyton Manning, Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and plenty of others. Saturday night, it was Clark’s turn. The two walked through the arena together, shared a hug, and then Wallen ran out to perform. The Lucas Oil crowd roared.

Barstool Sports posted the clip on X, and the reactions came fast.

The Backlash — and the Defense

For a significant portion of WNBA fans, the optics were the problem. Wallen was caught on camera using a racial slur in 2021, an incident that led to widespread condemnation and a temporary suspension from his label. He eventually apologized, saying he was on a 72-hour “bender” and that his language was “unacceptable and inappropriate” with “no excuses.” He’s since rebuilt his career into one of the biggest in music, but the controversy hasn’t fully faded — especially in spaces where it hits close to home.

“So many of her colleagues are Black women. But she’s fine being cool with the bigot who freely uses the n word,” one widely shared tweet read. “Well, that’s disappointing,” wrote another. Others went further, connecting Clark’s appearance to broader frustrations: “We owe Angel Reese an apology,” one fan posted. And: “the shocked reactions to this are convincing me that people just automatically assume any female celebrity is woke because Caitlin has done nothing but show us CONSTANTLY that this is who she really is.”

Some brought up the company Clark keeps more broadly. “So she is friends with Dave Portnoy, Morgan Wallen, and Bryce Hall,” one user noted pointedly.

But plenty of fans weren’t having the pile-on either. Others pointed out that Mahomes and Kelce had done the same walkout with Wallen during a previous tour stop without generating anything close to the same level of outrage. “All of the weirdos calling Caitlin Clark racist for walking out on stage at a Morgan Wallen Concert need to get a life,” one user fired back. “Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce walked out at one too, and there was no outrage.” Another simply called Clark and Wallen “Two GOATS.” One fan posted: “2 GOATS, this is epic! Morgan surrounded by badass women tonight between Caitlin Clark and Ella Langley” — referencing Wallen’s newly debuted collaboration with Ella Langley.

And then there was the criticism that had nothing to do with Wallen at all. “Im sorry.. you didn’t get back on defense and Paige [Bueckers] drops 20 on you. Plus you miss a 3 at the end and take an L. Do better,” one X user wrote — a reminder that some fans were still stinging from the loss itself.

What Actually Happened on the Court

Clark’s day had been genuinely eventful before she ever set foot in Lucas Oil that night. The Fever’s season opener was a 107-104 loss, and it wasn’t clean. Clark finished with 20 points, seven assists, and five rebounds — but she also shot just 7-for-18 from the field and 2-for-9 from three. She missed a potential game-tying three-pointer with around seven seconds left on the clock. Her 3-point shooting was a quiet concern all of last season, when she shot just 27.9 percent from deep across an injury-shortened 13-game year.

She also left the bench twice during the game to get her back worked on in the locker room. ESPN’s Holly Rowe reported that Clark was on a trainer’s table before returning to the bench with a wrap around her back, sitting down next to teammate Lexie Hull. She played a team-high 31 minutes anyway.

“Just getting my back adjusted. Gets out of line pretty quickly. Other than that, I feel great,” Clark said postgame.

Fever head coach Stephanie White backed her up: “We wouldn’t have played her 30 minutes if she wasn’t OK.”

The game itself had some extra weight to it. It featured four consecutive No. 1 overall WNBA draft picks on the same court — Aliyah Boston (2023), Clark (2024), Paige Bueckers (2025), and Azzi Fudd (2026). Bueckers had 20 points for Dallas. Boston and Kelsey Mitchell each dropped 30 for Indiana, but it wasn’t enough. Clark was also caught on the broadcast telling Dallas defender Aziaha James “flopping all f—ing day” after James drew an offensive foul — just another moment in what was a very full afternoon.

Sophie Cunningham Had No Complaints

Not everyone in Clark’s orbit was conflicted about the concert appearance. Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham was also at the show and made her feelings very clear — posting video of the walkout to her Instagram Story with the caption: “you badass bitch.”

Cunningham’s enthusiasm for the moment makes a little extra sense in context. She’s spoken openly about her love of country music, and in a February episode of her Show Me Something podcast, she hinted that something musical might be in the works for her personally.

“Oh, I don’t know if I would consider it as Plan B,” she said of a potential music career. “But you guys, I think that there might be something kind of cool in the background brewing that I might be doing something with someone. A little country artist, because that’s more my vibe. So what happened is I work with 3 Arts now. So 3 Arts reached out and was like, ‘Hey, we know the guy who found and produces and started off like Hardy, Morgan Wallen and like four other people.’ And they’re like, ‘She needs to get on a song.’ So I think something might be happening.”

She wasn’t naming names Saturday night — just cheering on her teammate.

Clark, for her part, hasn’t commented publicly on the backlash. The Fever are back in action Wednesday night when they visit the Los Angeles Sparks, and she’ll have a chance to let the basketball do the talking.

The post Caitlin Clark’s Morgan Wallen Walkout Divides Fans appeared first on Cream.

• The Chicago Sky waived 2025 first-round pick Hailey Van Lith on Monday after just one season
• Van Lith averaged only 3.5 points on 33.9% shooting in 29 rookie games, never earning a starting spot
• The Sky simultaneously signed 10-year WNBA veteran Natasha Cloud to a one-year, $550,000 deal
• Sue Bird had publicly called out the league for blackballing Cloud over her political outspokenness
• Van Lith could still return to Chicago on a developmental contract allowing up to 12 games this season

Hailey Van Lith’s time with the Chicago Sky is over — and it ended almost as fast as it began.

The Sky waived the 24-year-old guard on Monday, less than a year after drafting her with the 11th overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Within the same hour, Chicago announced it had signed veteran guard Natasha Cloud to a one-year, $550,000 deal. The message was clear: the Sky are done waiting on potential. They want proven production now.

The timing made the move sting even more for Van Lith’s supporters — especially fans who noticed that Chicago had protected her in the expansion draft just weeks earlier. But the numbers told a story the organization couldn’t ignore. In 29 games last season, Van Lith never cracked the starting lineup, averaging 3.5 points on 33.9% shooting and 1.6 assists in just 12.4 minutes a night. Her 3-point shooting, already a concern coming out of college at 33.8%, cratered to a brutal 16.1% in the pros. She also averaged 1.2 turnovers per game — nearly matching her assist total.

A Rough Rookie Year That Had No Easy Answers

Van Lith’s path to the WNBA was anything but conventional. After three seasons at Louisville and one at LSU — where she famously shared a locker room with Angel Reese — she transferred to TCU for a fifth college year, a decision that drew criticism at the time. Van Lith didn’t apologize for it.

“I’m not gonna allow people to make me feel bad because I was blessed with this opportunity to play five years,” she said in March 2025. “For a female in sports, the reality is the professional level just isn’t as accessible or attainable as the men’s side. So, to maximize on your brand and what you bring to the table and capitalize on your name, image and likeness, you have to take advantage of that in college.”

The TCU gamble paid off on paper. She earned multiple Big 12 honors, helped the Horned Frogs win a Big 12 championship, and made it to the Elite Eight. Her draft stock rose. Chicago came calling.

But the WNBA is a different world. At 5-foot-9 — and by some accounts potentially listed generously — Van Lith needed elite quickness and shooting to carve out space in a league that has gotten longer and more athletic every year. She had neither in her rookie season. The lefty struggled to create the same separation she found in college, and her 3-point shot — always a question mark — fell apart completely under professional defense.

Then came the injury that accelerated everything. On June 7, 2025, starting point guard Courtney Vandersloot tore the ACL in her right knee against the Indiana Fever. Suddenly Van Lith was being asked to carry far more responsibility than a rookie in her situation should have to shoulder. The Sky tried to ease the burden by leaning on veteran Rachel Banham at times, but Van Lith never found her footing. She couldn’t settle into a rhythm as either a scorer or a facilitator, and nagging ankle injuries kept pulling her in and out of the rotation. She had surgery in the offseason to address the issue — but it wasn’t enough to get her off the roster bubble heading into training camp.

The preseason had offered a flicker of hope. Van Lith averaged 12.5 points on 71.4% shooting with 4.5 assists across two games. On April 25, she went a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor against the Phoenix Mercury, finishing with 20 points. That kind of performance made Monday’s news land even harder for her fans.

Why Natasha Cloud Changes the Equation

Cloud brings exactly what Van Lith couldn’t deliver: experience, defensive versatility, and the kind of floor-general presence that a rebuilding team desperately needs. The 34-year-old spent last season starting 41 games for the New York Liberty, averaging 10.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.2 steals. Before that, over 38 starts with the Phoenix Mercury, she averaged 11.5 points, 6.9 assists and 1.4 steals while earning second-team All-Defensive honors. She’s also Washington’s all-time leader in assists and a WNBA champion, having won the title with the Mystics in 2019.

“Natasha is one of the best passers and defenders in our league,” Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said in a statement. “She fits in with the other proven winners on our roster.”

Cloud slots in seamlessly alongside Skylar Diggins and Jacy Sheldon while Vandersloot and forward Azurá Stevens continue managing their recoveries. She gives head coach Tyler Marsh options — a three-guard lineup, a steady backup role, a defensive anchor. At this stage of the season, that flexibility is invaluable.

What makes Cloud’s arrival even more layered is the conversation that preceded it. The veteran guard spent most of the offseason unsigned despite her production, and many around the league believed she was being quietly pushed out over her outspoken political views. Sue Bird addressed it directly on her podcast, A Touch More.

“I personally don’t want to live in a world where Natasha Cloud is being punished for being outspoken. It is not what our league has been built on,” Bird said. “In fact, being outspoken is part of the fabric of our league; it’s what connects us to our fan base. Actually, Tash is a great example of that. We’ve actually changed the world. I’m not even joking. Yes, we’ve changed things for our league, but I think that has trickled into the actual society that we live in. And it’s what has gotten us to where we are today. So for me, that would be the antithesis of the WNBA’s identity for Tash to be blackballed in this way.”

Whether Bird’s words moved the needle in Chicago’s front office is impossible to know. But the timing — Bird speaks, Cloud gets signed — is hard to ignore.

What’s Next for Van Lith

The Sky also waived second-round picks Maddy Westbeld and Aicha Coulibaly on Monday, as Chicago continues reshaping a roster that went 10-34 last season and tied for last in the WNBA. The offseason has been aggressive — most notably, the team traded two-time All-Star Angel Reese to Atlanta last month, ending the LSU reunion that had briefly reunited Van Lith with her former college teammate.

The door hasn’t fully closed on Van Lith in Chicago. She could return on a developmental contract, which would allow her to stay with the organization and appear in up to 12 games this season. If that doesn’t materialize, she’ll join a growing list of high WNBA draft picks from recent years still searching for a place to prove themselves in a league with limited roster spots and zero margin for a slow start.

She’s 24, she’s a 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in 3×3 basketball, and she clearly has the talent — the preseason numbers proved that much. But in a league this competitive, a 16.1% three-point percentage doesn’t buy you time. Chicago is opening the 2026 season Saturday on the road against the expansion Portland Fire, and they needed someone ready right now.

Natasha Cloud is ready. Hailey Van Lith’s next chapter is still being written.

The post Chicago Sky Cut Hailey Van Lith, Sign Natasha Cloud appeared first on Cream.