Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark still needs more time to recover from a left quad strain that has kept her sidelined for the last four games. She will not play on Tuesday against the Atlanta Dream, Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters after practice on Monday.
“We’ve got to work both [Clark] and Sophie [Cunningham] back into [basketball condition]” White said. “It’s one thing to do some shooting drills, it’s another thing to get out there on the floor, get back into movement patterns, rhythm, timing. … Both of them, being out for long periods of time, you’ve got to work your way back into being game-ready.”
“I don’t know if ‘cleared’ is the right word,” White continued. “We’re ready to start ramping back up … It’s completely different when you’re just doing one-on-one workouts [then] when you’re out there in five-on-five, getting up and down the floor and moving laterally. [Clark’s] been allowed to do some practicing, not everything. We’re going to be smart and we’re going to be cautious and we’re going to play the long game and work her back in, very intentionally.”
The earliest Clark could return is on Saturday against the reigning champion New York Liberty.
Clark last played on May 24 during the Fever’s narrow loss to the Liberty, and had a rough outing. She shot 2 of 11 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 10 times, including on the final possession when she had a chance to tie or win the game.
Less than 48 hours later, on Memorial Day, the Fever announced that Clark had undergone an MRI which revealed a left quad strain. She was ruled out for a minimum of two weeks, which made Tuesday’s game against the Dream her earliest possible return date. Now, it’s clear that she’ll need more time.
Clark spoke to reporters for the first time since her injury on June 5, and said she would not rush her return because it was “not worth it.” She added that the injury occurred during the Liberty game, but she could not pinpoint a specific moment because “adrenaline covers up a lot of stuff when you’re in the heat of battle.”
Without Clark, the Fever looked like a mess in their first two games. They lost to the Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun, giving the latter their first win of the season. To make matters worse, Sydney Colson and Sophie Cunningham also went down with injuries in the defeat to the Sun.
Due to all of their injuries, the Fever dropped below 10 healthy players, which granted them an emergency hardship exception, which they used to sign Aari McDonald. The former lottery pick helped stabilize the situation and the Fever beat the Mystics and the Chicago Sky in their last two games to return to .500 at 4-4. Per the terms of the exception, McDonald will have to be released once Clark or Cunningham is healthy. It’s unclear if the Fever will try to figure out some way to bring McDonald back for the rest of the season.
Clark said that her time off has taught her a lot and given her a unique perspective. Prior to this injury, she had not missed a game since high school, and had played in 185 consecutive games dating back to her freshman season at Iowa. From the bench, she’s to be the same voice for her teammates that she is on the court, and share her “unique perspective” whenever possible.
“When you’re out there playing and in the heat of the moment you don’t always realize everything, you don’t always see everything,” Clark said. “You see things from a different perspective that maybe the coaching staff didn’t see, so it’s certainly different. I’m trying to be that connector between my coaches and my teammates, whether that’s in the locker room at halftime, whether that’s during timeouts.”
Clark opened her sophomore campaign with an electric triple-double in the Fever’s big win over the Sky — a feat that was largely overlooked due to her flagrant foul on Angel Reese during that game — and was averaging 19 points, six rebounds and a league-leading 9.3 assists over her first four games.
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