Caitlin Clark has still not yet returned to practice as she continues to deal with a right groin injury, per Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White. Clark has missed the past 10 games and is without a timetable to return. However, White did offer a positive update in that Clark has been able to increase her […]
Caitlin Clark has still not yet returned to practice as she continues to deal with a right groin injury, per Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White. Clark has missed the past 10 games and is without a timetable to return.
However, White did offer a positive update in that Clark has been able to increase her workload in terms of what she can do away from the practice court. It’s been a slow process, but she is at least inching in the right direction.
“She’s been able to get a little bit more of her full-court running with all of her body weight,” White said Monday. “It’s really building up from doing minimal to then building some endurance to do longer periods of time. She’s been able to do a little bit more on the court in terms of how she moves, but not into practice yet.”
It’s been a tough season for Clark in terms of injuries. In addition to the right groin injury she is dealing with now, she also missed two weeks in June because of a groin injury on her left side.
If Clark misses Tuesday’s contest against the Dallas Wings, which appears likely, it would be the 20th game she sat this season. The Fever have an 8-5 record when she plays compared to 10-9 without her.
Prior to her injury this season, Clark was averaging 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 27.9% from 3-point range. During an appearance on the Bird’s Eye View with Sue Bird podcast, she opened up the pressure she feels to return to the court.
“It’s hard, because obviously I do feel this responsibility of being out there and playing,” Clark said. “… And not that I think there’s a fear of any of this going away. That doesn’t happen when like, LeBron or Steph get hurt. [Fans] are always going to be there.
”But you do want to play, you want to give people something to cheer about or scream about. People spend so much time, and money, and resources to come and watch you play. And it’s been cool to see people continue to show up for my teammates, whether they’re fans of the Fever just fans of myself, they’re continuing to show up and support.”
Indiana currently sits in fifth place in the WNBA standings but is only 2.5 games back from second place. The Fever still have 12 games left on their schedule with about a month remaining in the regular season.
If Caitlin Clark can make her return from injury soon, it could potentially be big for their playoff seeding, but it seems the team doesn’t want to push her if she isn’t ready. Tip-off for the game against the Wings is at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Category: General Sports
