Injuries to key players dampen excitement for WNBA’s inaugural Rivals Week

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA hoped to create some buzz with its inaugural Rivals Week, which is slated to begin on Saturday. Unfortunately, injuries to key players like Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has dampened some of the excitement.

The week was set to tip-off with a primetime matchup between Clark’s Fever and Reese’s Sky on Saturday night. Clark is definitely out while still recovering from a groin strain that’s sidelined her already for a few weeks. Reese has missed four of the past five games with a back injury.

Collier and Stewart were set for a second meeting between Minnesota and New York on Sunday, but neither will play in the game. Collier is sidelined with a sprained right ankle and Stewart has a bone bruise in her right knee. The two teams played an epic WNBA Finals last season, although both sides have downplayed it being a rivalry just yet.

“It’s a rivalry because of what happened in the Finals last year and I think it’s good that it has people talking,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “We have passionate fans. We have people talking about our league and that’s a good thing.”

Right now only four games separate second-place New York (18-10) from eighth place Golden State (14-14) with a month left in the season.

“The timing of that week is critical, because in August you start to really make that playoff push,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said back when the Rivals Week was announced. “So it would be great to have those matchups during that period to drive that playoff push into September and crown a champion in October.”

Minnesota remained the No. 1 team in the poll with Atlanta and New York behind the Lynx. Riding a five-game winning streak, Indiana moved up to fourth. Phoenix and Seattle followed the Fever. Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Golden State were the next three. Washington, Dallas, Connecticut and Chicago rounded out the poll. It’s the first time since Week 6 that the Sun aren’t at the bottom of the poll.

Las Vegas’ blowout loss to Minnesota on Saturday drew an average viewership of 1.6 million fans, peaking at 2 million. As a whole, games on ABC are up 20% from the regular season last year on the network.

Collier of Minnesota was the AP player of the week after averaging 24 points, six rebounds and 3.5 assists to help the Lynx win both their games last week. Other players receiving votes included Allisha Gray of Atlanta, Natasha Howard of Indiana and Sabrina Ionescu of New York.

Minnesota at New York, Sunday. With Stewart and Collier both missing this game a little of the luster has come out of it. Still, it’s a WNBA Finals rematch and there’s definitely a little extra on this game.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball