Fever move Caitlin Clark's preseason home debut up a day to accommodate Pacers' playoff schedule

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark will make her preseason home debut a day earlier than initially scheduled, Indiana Fever officials announced Friday.

Indiana was initially scheduled to host the Atlanta Dream on May 10. The game will now be played Thursday.

The scheduling conflict occurred when the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks each advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals of the NBA playoffs with Game 6 wins Thursday night. League officials then announced the two teams would play Game 3 at Indiana on May 10 at 7 p.m. — the same date and time the Fever and Dream were to play.

Both Indiana teams play in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Fever officials said tickets with the May 10 date will be valid for the rescheduled game and that the game will be shown on the WNBA app.

Clark’s first professional game will be played Friday night at Dallas. Indiana opens the regular season May 14 at Connecticut and plays its first home game May 16 against New York.

The NBA will work around that if the Pacers and Knicks go at least six games, adding an extra day of rest. There are two days off after Game 5, with Game 6 scheduled for May 17 in Indianapolis. There is one day off between every other game in the series. Had that schedule remained, Game 6 would have been May 16.