Caitlin Clark was a surprise late scratch with a back injury for the Indiana Fever’s home matchup with the Portland Fire on May 20, and new ripple effects from the story continue to emerge.
The latest comes from independent reporter Scott Agness, who covers the Fever and Indiana Pacers through his “Fieldhouse Files” Substack. In a post on Tuesday, Agness revealed that the organization has revoked his credential over the reporting he published following Clark’s absence from the May 20 game.
Agness describes a series of trials with the parent organization that owns both the Fever and Pacers leading up to this week, when he says he received an e-mail from Fever public relations stating that his media access to all team events had been revoked. According to Agness, the team referenced his reporting on Clark’s late scratch on May 20, accusing him of spreading “inaccurate and unsubstantiated information.”
After Indiana announced shortly before tipoff that Clark would miss the game with a back injury despite not being listed on the injury report in the lead-up, Agness wrote on X and in his Substack that the absence was part of a “strategic management plan” between Clark and the team after the franchise cornerstone missed most of the 2025 season with multiple injuries.
Several reporters were critical of Indiana’s handling of both that injury report and one earlier the same week, when Fever center Aliyah Boston also missed a game unexpectedly and with little explanation. Local and national media expressed frustration at their inability to deliver accurate information to fans due to the team’s actions. The Fever received a “warning” from the WNBA over the situation, and have since listed Clark as probable on its injury reports.
Agness believes his phrasing regarding Clark’s injury led to his falling out with the team.
“The Fever took specific issue with the phrase ‘strategic management plan,'” he wrote. “That’s their right. However, it is consistent with what the team has been publicly emphasizing since last season — keeping the big picture in mind and taking a cautious approach.”
After head coach Stephanie White spoke pregame about Clark’s status, Agness says he updated his account to include her explanation.
Added Agness: “People can disagree with wording or interpretation; that’s part of the relationship between teams and the media. What should not be in dispute is that the reporting was sourced, that it was updated as new information became available, and that readers were given the full context available at the time.”
Speaking with media shortly in the days after that game, Clark acknowledged the process of building “confidence” in her body, stating that the series of soft tissue injuries she dealt with last season were still in mind, and that there are “moments where I still struggle a little bit, and I get in my head and things like that.”
Later in the piece, Agness reveals far deeper issues between him and the Pacers’ side of the organization, which he says began before the 2023-24 season, around the time a new PR staff took over.
Agness writes that the team cut his access down from daily to weekends only, then rescinded it altogether after they said he parked his car in the media lot without proper permission — an allegation he denies.
Agness adds that his issues with the Pacers have grown to include events run by the NBA, including the All-Star Game, the draft lottery, and Summer League.
Prior to launching independent coverage of the Pacers and Fever, Agness worked for the franchise and several local media outlets before becoming The Athletic’s full-time Pacers beat reporter from 2018-20, according to his LinkedIn profile.
More from Agness: “Colleagues in the media have been urging me to go public about these issues with the Pacers from the beginning. I held off because I hoped they could be resolved privately and, until May 20, I had a good relationship with the Fever. Given recent events, I believe readers deserve the full context.
“This is my livelihood. I remain committed to covering the Fever, the Pacers and professional basketball in Indiana with the same standards I always have. However, without credentialed access, some aspects of coverage — including player interviews, community events and other on-location reporting — will be more limited due to these team-imposed restrictions.”
Indiana Fever PR has not yet responded to a request for comment.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.