Layup Lines: First game without Clark

Let's see how the Fever respond.

Author

Everett Cook
May 28, 2025

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA.

  • We went 2-1 yesterday thanks to Dallas scoring over 100 points and Seattle keeping it close against Minnesota.

This 423 word newsletter should take less than 2 minutes to read.

Bet of the day

  • We’re 12-14 this season and have $867 of our initial $1,000 left to wager.

  • There’s only one game today — Indiana @ Washington (7:30pm ET, League Pass).

    • These point totals are swinging around due to Caitlin Clark being out with a quad injury, as the game total has jumped from 159 to 163.5 today. While I generally don’t try and fade the public, both the Layup Lines model and my brain don’t get this at all.

    • Clark is an incredible shooter, but her main value to the Fever is being a dominant passer. Her assist percentage — AST%, or the percent of a team’s assists a player has while on the court — is 38.5%. The next closest starter is Aliyah Boston at 12.2%.

    • Indiana has said that Sydney Colson is going to start in place of Clark with Sophie Cunningham filling in off the bench. Well, Colson last averaged more than 10 minutes per game in 2019 and her career high in assists per game of 2.8 was set while Obama was in office. Cunningham, meanwhile, is a shooting guard who is primarily there to shoot. Can Indiana figure out how to run its offense without Clark? Sure. But I don’t see it happening tonight.

      • Bet: Indiana / Washington under 163.5, $150 to win $133.

Top plays from last night

Card of the day

  • Mystics rookies Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron are both early contenders for Rookie of the Year, giving Washington some real long-term optimism alongside second-year budding star Aaliyah Edwards.

  • While this youth infusion seems to be working out for the Mystics, and retirement seems to be working out for Elena Delle Donne, I selfishly would’ve loved to see how the former MVP would’ve looked this year next to the rookies as the veteran sixth woman off the bench.

Elena Delle Donne 2023 WNBA Origins Tiger Eyes Case Hit SSP

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If you bet, please do so responsibly, and we will see you back here tomorrow.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor