Weekly WNBA takeaways: Injuries putting damper on regular season

Another week of WNBA basketball is in the books. The playoff race is heating up, while there is more separation near the top.

Injuries have also become a major storyline, which is where we'll begin with the takeaways from the past week in the WNBA.

Injuries have hurt the WNBA 

It goes beyond the fact that Caitlin Clark has missed 19 games. That hindered the WNBA this season, but so have injuries to Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Angel Reese and others.

Clark and Reese have missed multiple games between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky. Paige Bueckers and Clark have also missed out on facing each other multiple times. 

On Sunday, a marquee matchup between last season's WNBA Finals participants lost some luster as Collier and Stewart each missed the game.

Collier is the odds-on favorite to win the WNBA MVP Award. Yet, she's out right now. Stewart is, too. Add in Clark, and you have three of the top four MVP favorites at the start of the season sidelined. 

Only so much can be done to prevent injuries, but some of the excitement has been sucked out of the regular season because of them.

Kelsey Mitchell has been incredible 

Kelsey Mitchell isn't the only reason that the Indiana Fever still has a top-five record in the WNBA, but she's the biggest one.

With Clark out for most of the season, Mitchell has taken over the role as the No. 1 option and passed the test with flying colors.

Mitchell now leads the WNBA in total points with 637. She's also third in scoring average with 19.9 points per game. Beyond that, her 78 three-point field goals also lead the league.

The three-time All-Star has three games with 32 points or more this season, and is also third in offensive win shares.

When Clark does return, the ceiling is still incredibly high for the Fever because if the second-year star from Iowa can find her form, Indiana will have a big three that rivals any in the WNBA. 

Playoff races take shape 

After a dominant win over the New York Liberty, without Collier, the Minnesota Lynx are 27-5. They have a 6.5-game lead over New York (20-11) for the top spot, so it's hard to see anyone overtaking them for the best record in the league.

After that, there are five teams within three games of each other. New York is tied with Atlanta (20-11) for second place and is one game up on Phoenix (19-12). Indiana  (18-14) and Las Vegas (18-14) are each 2.5 games out of second place with approximately 25 percent of the regular season left.

Seattle has dropped five games in a row, taking it from top-four contention to the playoff bubble, especially after Sunday's loss to the Sparks.

The Storm are tied with Golden State for the last playoff spot, just 0.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Sparks, who beat them on Sunday night. 

With five teams at the top separated by 2.5 games, and three teams at the bottom of the playoff standings having just 0.5 games between them, the last month or so of the WNBA should be exciting.

Particularly if all of the stars who have missed extended periods due to injury can return.