SEATTLE – There continues to be no timeline for Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark‘s return to the court, coach Stephanie White said ahead of Sunday’s game against Seattle.
Clark, who is traveling with the team on the four-game West Coast road trip, walked into Climate Pledge Arena wearing the Fever’s practice uniform, sparking excitement she may be getting closer to a return.
But White says they’re trying to be cautious with her recovery.
“We’ve had updates (from the training staff), and her recovery is going well,” White said. “You know for us, it’s staying the course and making sure that we’re really diligent about each step that we take, and that we don’t have setbacks, and that we’re patient with it.
“I know she wants to be out here on the floor, and we want her out here on the floor, but making sure that she’s ready is the most important thing. I still don’t know how far we are. We’re going to take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and go from there.”
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The Fever are trying to be cautious with Clark, especially considering this is the fourth muscle injury she’s had this season. Clark missed the preseason opener with left quad tightness, then had a left quad strain that kept her out for two weeks. Shortly after returning from that left quad injury, she suffered a left groin injury, keeping her out for another two weeks.
A week after returning from the left groin injury, she suffered this right groin injury on July 15. Clark went through more testing with this right groin injury while the Fever were on a road trip to New York, which showed no additional damage outside of what they found in the original imaging she did directly after the injury on July 16.
But, considering she’s suffered multiple injuries around her upper leg/groin area this season, the Fever are making sure to be cautious — both to make sure she doesn’t have any setbacks in recovery or suffer a different injury by rushing back her return.
This is the first time Clark has suffered injuries in her five-year college and professional career, too, so both she and training staff doesn’t necessarily know what to expect. Every player is different in how they recover from these muscle injuries, and without a roadmap or previous injury base a potential timeline off of, they’re taking her recovery day-by-day to see how her body reacts.
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter.
