Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will miss her 16th consecutive game with a right groin injury Tuesday when her team takes on the Seattle Storm in a game with major postseason implications. If the Fever lose on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Phoenix Mercury, the Fever would fall out of the playoff picture.
Clark, who was injured late in the Fever’s win over the Connecticut Sun on July 15, does not have an official return timeline. She also suffered a bone bruise on her left ankle during a workout on Aug. 7. The Indy Star reported that Clark’s ankle issue did not affect her groin rehab, and the Fever released a statement on Wednesday saying “there was no timeline or projected return to play” so it’s unclear if it was impacted.
Prior to Sunday’s game, Clark took a positive step by participating in non-contact drills at shootaround. However, she has still not returned to practice.
Fever coach Stephanie White made an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today earlier this month and said the team is taking it slow with Clark’s recovery process.
“It’s day-to-day right now, we’re putting no timetable on it,” White said. “[She is] going through the rehab process, and then we want to reintegrate her from a strength and conditioning standpoint and then get her back to basketball activities. So we’re taking it one day at a time, really slow rolling it, slow playing it this time… The most important thing for us is Caitlin’s long-term health and getting her back to 100% before we put her back on the floor.”
White says “the hope” is for Clark to return before the end of the regular season.
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Following Tuesday’s contest, the Fever will hit the road for a three-game West Coast trip that begins Friday with a massive game against the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks. All told, the Fever will have just six games remaining until the regular season comes to a close on Sept. 11. It remains unclear if Clark will be cleared at any time before that date.
After a historic Rookie of the Year season, Clark’s sophomore campaign has been derailed by injuries. She’s been limited to 13 appearances due to a left quad strain that kept her out for three weeks, a left groin injury that sidelined her for two weeks and now a right groin injury. Along the way, she’s missed out on the Commissioner’s Cup championship and All-Star weekend in her adopted home city of Indianapolis.
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Spending so much time on the training table is a new experience for Clark, who prior to this season had not missed a game due to injury since she was in high school.
“This is the first time I haven’t felt like a young body that can run around and sprint every day and just continue to do that,” Clark told Glamour over All-Star weekend. “Being a professional athlete, you really have to take care of both your body and your mind — it’s been a journey learning about that.”
When Clark has been able to get on the floor, she’s struggled to find the form that made her an All-WNBA First Team honoree last season. Aside from a triple-double in the Fever’s season opener and a 32-point, eight-rebound, nine-assist effort in her return from her first injury, most of the discussion about Clark’s on-court performance has centered around her lengthy shooting slump.
Clark is 7 of 49 from 3-point range in her last seven appearances, and has failed to make a 3-pointer in three separate games. For the season, she’s shooting 36.7% from the field, including 27.9% from behind the arc. Notably, she is 2 of 35 from downtown on the road. Despite her poor shooting, Clark is still putting up 16.5 points, five rebounds and 8.8 assists per game — good for second in the league.
The 19-18 Fever are 8-5 with Clark in the lineup and 11-13 without her. Entering Tuesday they are clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in a crowded bottom half of the playoff picture. In addition to being without Clark, they are now also without Sydney Colson (torn ACL), Aari McDonald (broken foot) and Sophie Cunningham (torn MCL) for the remainder of the season.
