Legendary Performer Red Panda Suffers Injury During WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Halftime, Caitlin Clark Wishes Her Well

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by James Van WicklerJuly 8, 2025, 6:43 pm >

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark sent a classy message to Red Pa nda, the stage name for acrobat Rong Niu, following the high-wire act’s scary fall during halftime of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game.

Niu fell on her left wrist after hitting the floor with her unicycle early during her legendary routine at Target Center in Minneapolis. She was helped off the court with assistance from a wheelchair after a tumble from her seven-foot unicycle. Employees witnessed Niu being taken away in an ambulance, according to The Athletic.

“Red Panda, we love you,” Clark said during Sydney Colson’s Instagram Live video. “Red Panda, if you’re watching, we love you.”

The 55-year-old ‘Red Panda’ has performed at professional and college sporting events since 1993.

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The Fever beat the Minnesota Lynx, 74-59, to take the Cup title. The Fever coach, Stephanie White, said after the game that her team was unaware of the halftime injury to Red Panda prior to the postseason celebration.

That’s when word spread of the unfortunate incident at midcourt. Clark did not play in the game due to a groin injury. Clark, who has not played since June 24, had participated in practice in the lead-up to the game, but White told reporters this week that Indiana was being cautious with her recovery.

“Making sure we don’t have any setbacks, we got to be smart about this,” White said.

Clark spoke to reporters after Sunday’s practice and said at the time, she was “day-by-day” with the groin situation.

“Doing everything I can to put myself in a position to play the next game every single time,” Clark said. “That’s always my goal is to be available for the next game. Doing everything I can with the medical staff to be able to get my body right to be able to do that. But yeah, I can feel good and just going day-by-day.”