After the Indiana Fever endured a disappointing 24-20 season in 2025, the star guard Caitlin Clark gives fans a much-needed — and promising — health update.
“I’m a guy who doesn’t want to go out in the open, like I want to be there all the time,” Clark, 24, told reporters on Monday, April 20, adding that he will be back “100 percent” without restrictions to play when the 2026 season begins in a few weeks.
“I love to compete and I love to play. None of that has changed,” he added. “But I think being a little wiser with my body and understanding what’s needed…that recovery, whether that’s pre-trial treatment, whatever it is.”
Clark played just 13 games in his second professional season as quad, groin and ankle injuries kept him sidelined. Although the star does not want to miss the rep, his head coach, Stephanie Whitehe brought his first board back down to Earth, explaining to reporters that it was very important to keep him healthy in the long run.
“He doesn’t have to be there every rep, just remember,” White, 48, told IX’s. Tony East On Monday. “Every year he gets older, he understands that the cadence is a little different.”
White added that his comments were directed not only at Clark, but also at the core of the Fever franchise Aliyah Boston again Kelsey Mitchell like that.
“And him, and Kelsey, and AB, and all of them, just remember to get them in and out,” she said. “And we need to bring other people together so I think it will give us a great opportunity to do that.”
Clark hasn’t played a WNBA game since July 15, but has been optimistic she could return this season in the weeks following her latest injury. On September 4, he finally announced that his season was over.
“I was hoping to share a better update, but I won’t be back to play this season,” he wrote on Instagram at the time, alongside black-and-white photos of himself and his teammates. “I spend hours in the gym every day with one goal of getting back there, disappointed is not a big enough word to describe how I feel.”
But as painful as the moment was, Clark was able to reflect on it this week, taking the positives from his time on the sidelines.
“That’s a very humbling experience,” she said. “It gives me a good idea of how to be a good teammate and a great leader.”
The Fever will travel to New York to face the Liberty in their first preseason game on Saturday, April 25.
