Fever Coach Lays Out What Needs to Happen Before Caitlin Clark Returns

Ryan Phillips | Aug 26, 2025

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark will need to ramp back up before returning to game action. / Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Caitlin Clark has a lot of hurdles to get over before we'll see her back on the court.

The Fever star has been out since July 15 due to an injured right groin. While she has begun doing some on-court work, Clark has not returned to practice.

On Tuesday, Indiana coach Stephanie White laid out exactly what needs to happen for Clark to get back to game action. It's safe to say she has a ways to go.

"I want to see her in practice, live in practice," White said, per The Indianapolis Star's Chloe Peterson. "I want to see her 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 it from an endurance standpoint, and that's going to take multiple practices to make sure that there's no regression."

She added, "As most of us know, when we get fatigued, we look different, and see how she plays through fatigue."

That means there's a chance we won't see Clark before the regular season is over. The Fever have six games remaining before the playoffs, and they are in a battle to make it. Though Indiana has dealt with a ton of injuries, including losing Sydney Colson, Sophie Cunningham and Aari McDonald for the season.

Clark has only played in 13 of the Fever's 38 games this season as she has battled a litany of her own injuries. In those 13 games, she has averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists, 5.05 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per contest.

Hopefully she can get back on the court soon, but it's going to take some time.

---

More WNBA on Sports Illustrated

feed