Caitlin Clark Indiana Fever Elimination Ends Title Defense After Liberty Win

The Caitlin Clark Indiana Fever elimination arrived Sunday when the New York Liberty’s win over the Washington Mystics closed Indiana’s path to a Commissioner’s Cup repeat. The Fever, who won the Cup for the first time in franchise history in 2025, entered 2026 with title defense as one of their biggest goals.

New York Liberty Seal the East

The Liberty beat the Mystics 86-64 at Barclays Center and improved to 5-0 in Commissioner’s Cup play. That result locked up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and the conference winner advances to the Commissioner’s Cup championship game on June 30.

Indiana still had a chance to finish 5-1 in Cup play, but the Liberty already held the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating the Fever 83-75 on June 6. With New York finishing unbeaten in conference play, the Fever could not catch them.

Fever Lose Cup Path

The loss of that path lands during a season in which Clark has already been limited by injuries. She played only 13 games in 2025 because of multiple soft tissue injuries, and five Fever players suffered season-ending injuries during that campaign.

Indiana entered Sunday on a three-game winning streak and had won five straight in the Commissioner’s Cup at one point, but the standings left no opening once the Liberty reached 5-0. The Fever’s run to their first Cup title in 2025 ended before the June 30 final could become a target again.

The remaining outcome is simple for Indiana: the team can still chase regular-season momentum, but its chance to return to the Cup final is gone. New York’s result left the Fever out of the East’s championship path and turned a title defense into an early exit from the tournament race.