A legion of fans are tapping back into the WNBA as the postseason nears, and they have one pressing question: Where in the world is Caitlin Clark?
The simple answer is not on the court for the Indiana Fever. Clark missed her 28th game of the season on Tuesday in an 85-79 loss to the Phoenix Mercury at the end of their West Coast trip. The complicated answer is whether that will continue, or if the superstar point guard can return for the regular season and a potential playoff push.
Advertisement
Time is running out, with three games left in a five-day span and the postseason being no guarantee. Clark’s absence and a litany of other injuries corroded the Fever’s championship aspirations, and Tuesday’s loss dropped their standing to eighth. They’re clinging to the final playoff seed by one game over Los Angeles.
Outside of occasional (and minimal) updates from head coach Stephanie White, there isn’t much information around Clark’s injury or rehab — or even when Clark is targeting a return, if at all. The Fever said at the onset there would be no timeline.
Caitlin Clark has been a fixture on the sidelines during her team’s games as she rehabs her injury. (Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
That’s potentially by design, but also a byproduct of the nature of the injury. when she sustained a right groin injury days before the Fever hosted All-Star weekend. Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie played through a groin injury in 2006 that she said required heavy taping around her thigh and glute. It was easy to reaggravate.
Advertisement
“That deep groin injury is nothing to play around with,” . “It can feel like you’ve never had it. You make one move, one cut — boom — she’s back in the same spot. I don’t know that it’s worth risking it.”
Clark missed time earlier in the season due to multiple soft tissue injuries to her left quad and left groin. In late August, in her left ankle on Aug. 7. It’s unclear how that impacted her quad rehab, if at all. Players on the status/availability report are not required to speak with reporters.
The Fever and White have maintained that Clark, who has traveled on every road trip, would receive all the time she needed to properly recover. After Clark joined the reserves in a 5-on-0 drill at shootaround on Tuesday, White told local reporters again it was “the hope” that Clark would return in the regular season while adding the long-standing caveat.
“She’s working as hard as she can to make sure that she is coming back, or is capable of coming back,” White said. “Again, I think the long-term viewpoint of her health and wellness is the most important thing.”
Advertisement
White said last week it would take multiple practices for Clark to be ready for game play. Those don’t have to be team practices, which are rare to come by at this time of the season, she said. The key is to see their Rookie of the Year able to handle contact the full 94 feet, as has been the constant in her budding professional career, and “sustain from an endurance standpoint.” They want to see how she plays through fatigue, White said.
With every day that passes, it becomes less realistic that Clark plays another game in 2025.
The WNBA regular season ends on Sept. 11, and the postseason tips off on Sept. 14. The Fever finish the campaign by playing every other day beginning Friday when they host Chicago (9-30). Indiana faces Washington (16-25) on the road on Sunday and concludes at home against No. 1 seed Minnesota (32-8) on Tuesday. The finale could be a first-round playoff preview if the Fever hold at No. 8.
Advertisement
Clark could pop up as available on the status reports within the week and slowly gear up for the postseason. The Fever, should they choose to go this route, also have the advantage of being the only team to finish the season ahead of the final day. They would have four full rest days between their final against Minnesota and Game 1 of the first round, which will be on the road no matter the opponent. The first round is a 1-1-1 format this year, so the Fever would host Game 2.
If endurance and fatigue are the concern, it’s likely Clark has played her final game. The point guard sees some of the most physicality of any guard in the league, a factor White agreed could have Opponents heavily trap and hedge, and Indiana is already at a disadvantage, having not played with Clark most of the year while being forced to incorporate multiple hardship players due to injury. They’re on their fourth point guard of the short season.
The Fever did a good enough job treading water in the month since losing guards Aari McDonald (foot) and Sydney Colson (ACL) They’re also , who exited their Aug. 17 game. And it’s not just the players — Keith Porter, the Fever’s player development coach, ruptured his Achilles on Monday.
This is nowhere close to the , or even the Clark-less squad that rode defense to an upset of the Lynx That’s a lot to put on Clark, a steadfast competitor no matter the circumstances.
Advertisement
Transitively, the Fever are looking out for their own long-term outlook. Clark, 23, has an entire professional career ahead of her and long term. There is no point in rushing back a perennial MVP contender (when healthy) to potentially incur more injuries.
Having an entire WNBA offseason to rehab any injury she might sustain, or a reaggravation of the current injury, isn’t a reason to push through. Players want to be healthy to train and develop ahead of the season, versus getting back to where they were before the injury.
Sabrina Ionescu, the 2020 No. 1 pick by the New York Liberty, said she rushed herself back from an ankle injury that ended her rookie year after three games. It wasn’t until her third season she was fully healthy, and in the ensuing two years the Liberty reached the Finals with the league’s first true superteam designed via free agency. In her fifth season, Ionescu lifted her first championship trophy for the city and the wide-eyed franchise that drafted her.
That’s where Clark and the Fever want to be. It just may have to wait.
