Caitlin Clark injury update: Fever set timeline to determine if WNBA star will return this season

The Indiana Fever will meet as an organization on Thursday to discuss Caitlin Clark’s status for the remainder of the season, coach Stephanie White told reporters ahead of Friday’s matchup with the Chicago Sky. Clark, who has been limited to 13 appearances this season, has not played since July 15 due to a right groin injury. 

“We really wanted to use this West Coast trip to evaluate. We’re gonna sit down after practice [Thursday] and hopefully have a direction soon,” White said. “We knew we had a stretch over the weekend to really see where we are, and the hope is to sit down and have an answer one way or another.”

The Fever will play their final regular season game on Tuesday, while the 2025 season will come to a close for all teams on Sept. 11. The playoffs will begin on Sept. 14. 

With less than a week before the Fever’s regular season ends and less than two weeks until the playoffs begin, Clark has still not been a full participant in practice. 

“She hasn’t been able to do a whole lot of contact,” White said. “She’s been able to get up-and-down 5-on-0, been able to do shooting, but hasn’t been able to get a whole lot of contact.”

Earlier this month, White said that she wants to see Clark participate in “multiple practices” before she returns to game action. She clarified that because the team will have limited practice time down the stretch, that doesn’t necessarily mean team practices, but could include 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 work. 

“I want to see her in practice, live in practice,” White said. “I want to see her to continue to work to not just build endurance, but to be able to handle contact 94 feet as it’s going to be in game, and to be able to do that and sustain from an endurance standpoint, and that’s going to take multiple practices to make sure that there’s no regression. As most of us know, when we get fatigued, we look different. [We need to see] how she plays through fatigue.”

After a historic Rookie of the Year campaign, Clark’s sophomore season has been derailed by injuries. 

She has only played 13 times 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. She also suffered a left ankle bone bruise while rehabbing her current groin issue. Along the way, she’s missed out on the Commissioner’s Cup championship and All-Star weekend in her adopted home city of Indianapolis. 

The Fever are 8-5 with Clark in the lineup and 13-14 without her. At 21-19, they currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot, but are just 1½ games up on the ninth-place Sparks. The Fever own the tiebreaker with the Storm but have lost the tiebreaker to the Sparks.