Commissioner's Cup dream for Fever all but lost after embarrassing loss

The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup is in full swing with all thirteen teams battling for a chance to compete for the $500,000 prize pool in the championship game. Indiana has won two of its three games so far. That is good enough for second place in the Eastern Conference but currently far from enough to make the championship game. 

After the Fever’s loss to the Dream and the Liberty’s dominant win over the Chicago Sky, New York is the uncontested favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference. Unsurprisingly, Minnesota is the favorite to win the Western Conference.

The Fever’s latest loss had major implications for the Commissioner’s Cup standings 

During the Commissioner’s Cup, which takes place from June 1-17, all teams in the WNBA compete for a chance to go to the championship game at the beginning of July. The winning team wins a big prize pool. To get a chance to win the extra money, teams have to win their conference. 

The most important tiebreaker in Commissioner’s Cup play is point differential. So, while winning games matters, beating teams by a significant margin is also crucial. After two consecutive wins over the Washington Mystics and Chicago Sky—the latter was a blowout, too—the Fever were in a solid position to challenge the New York Liberty for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. 

READ MORE: Caitlin Clark's injury no match for Fever-Sky viewership numbers

Indiana’s loss to Atlanta changed that. Not only are the Fever now one loss behind the Liberty, but the point differential also doesn’t look great. The Fever lost by a whopping 19 points, while the Liberty beat the Sky by the same margin. 

So, even if the Fever win the rest of their Commissioner’s Cup games, which is unlikely considering that they haven’t faced the Liberty yet, it would be incredibly difficult to overtake New York in the standings. In all likelihood, the Fever can give up the hope of competing for the prize pool. 

The loss to Atlanta has implications beyond the Commissioner’s Cup

Commissioner’s Cup games also count toward the regular-season standings. Those don’t look nearly as good for the Fever as fans imagined they would when the season first started. Indiana is currently seventh behind New York, Minnesota, Atlanta, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Seattle, and doesn’t look like the championship contender the team was supposed to be. 

Losing Caitlin Clark to a quad injury for five games was a massive blow to the Fever. Without its star point guard, the team suffered two bad losses to the Mystics and the Sun. Then, it seemed the Fever had found their groove with wins over the Mystics and the Sky. 

However, as soon as the Clark-less Fever faced a team with a winning record, they fell apart and lost a tough game. That doesn’t only underline Clark’s importance but also the fact that the Fever’s roster may not be as great as it seemed after a big offseason. Even with Clark out, the Fever have plenty of star power and should be able to compete with the better teams in the league.