The WNBA has officially warned the Indiana Fever over the injury designation of star guard Caitlin Clark, the league confirmed to Yahoo Sports’ Cassandra Negley on Thursday.

Clark did not play in the Fever’s game against the Portland Fire on Wednesday, despite not being on the injury report on Tuesday. She was ruled out due to a back injury two hours before the contest, in a move that opened the team up to potential punishment from the league.

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Clark’s injury was initially reported as “a strategic management plan,” according to Fever beat writer Scott Agness. In other words, the Fever were using load-management strategies to rest Clark after the team played four games in eight days.

As of Thursday, Clark is listed as probable for Friday night’s game against the Golden State Valkyries.

Due to WNBA injury rules, “player injuries” and “participation status” must be reported by 5 p.m. local time the day before a game. Clark was not listed on the team’s injury report Tuesday, adding to the speculation that the Fever were sitting Clark for load-management reasons.

That miscue made it possible that Indiana could even be fined by the league for improper injury report designations. Instead, the Fever will get away with a warning.

In general, sitting healthy players for load-management reasons is frowned upon by the league. If the Fever were only holding out Clark to manage her reps, the WNBA likely wouldn’t be happy about that.

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Because of that, Fever coach Stephanie White was forced to go into damage control before and after the game against the Fire, a 90-73 win by the Fever. Ahead of the contest, White denied the team was using load management to rest, but also downplayed the injury.

“She’s healthy. We’re not managing anything. This is just a back issue that we want to make sure we give the time to be ready.”

White later said she did not anticipate the injury to linger and that the team held Clark out just to be safe. White added that she’s not a doctor, shifting the responsibility to the team’s medical staff.

At that time, White also revealed that Clark missed practice Tuesday in order to receive treatment. White said Clark went through workouts after practice.

White was asked why the team didn’t add Clark to the injury report Tuesday night. The coach said that players who don’t practice aren’t always put on the injury report. White explained that — despite Clark missing practice Tuesday — the team expected Clark to play in Wednesday’s game … that is, until she woke up with a sore back on game day.

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White reiterated that Clark’s back was “sore,” but deferred to the training staff in case there was more to Clark’s injury. White was also asked whether she believed the Fever would be fined over their handling of the situation. She said “no.”

The Fever had an off day Thursday before Friday’s game against the Valkyries.