ESPN's Lawrencia Moten Suggests Fever Are Better Without Caitlin Clark

The 2026 WNBA season is just getting started, and yet, the Caitlin Clark discourse has already gone off the rails.

From a production standpoint, Clark has been great for the Indiana Fever when she's healthy. She's averaged 18.5 points and 8.5 assists per game since going pro in 2024. That being said, she missed a considerable amount of time in 2025 due to a right groin injury.

Despite not having Clark at their disposal, the Fever still made the WNBA semifinals last season. ESPN analyst Lawrencia Moten believes Indiana's offense was ultimately better without Clark on the floor.

"This is my hot take. Honestly, the Indiana Fever played some of their best team basketball without Caitlin Clark, and that's because she's like the sun that that offense kind of orbits around. The ball is constantly in her hands, which just made their offense extremely easy to guard," Moten said, via The Comeback. "Now, without her in the lineup, (head coach) Stephanie White had to decide who else was going to get in the mix, and their offense became so much more diverse. We saw Kelsey Mitchell have a tremendous season. Lexie Hull got in the fold. Aliyah Boston had another dominant season. All because they had to do it without Caitlin Clark, and that made their offense extremely hard to guard."

Obviously, Fever fans didn't appreciate this take from Moten.

"Perhaps, Lawrencia is a graduate of the Sheryl Swoopes school of illogic and shameful ignorance," one fan said.

"Who is L Moten? Outside of being someone irrelevant and jealous of CC," a second fan commented.

"All these haters want to do is minimize her and break her confidence and will," another fan replied.

Caitlin has already said she's willing to change her role.

During the Fever's media day in April, the former No. 1 pick said she doesn't want to bring up the basketball every single possession. She's hoping rookie point guard Raven Johnson could help her out in that department.

"It is exhausting, bringing the ball up 94 feet versus pressure every single time," Clark said. "So, we certainly need to find somebody that can handle the ball a little bit and give me a little bit of a break."

The Fever will begin their regular season on Saturday against the Dallas Wings. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. ET on ABC.

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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 5:36 PM.