Fever Coach Cites Physicality as Factor in Caitlin Clark Injuries

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White explained how the physicality Caitlin Clark faces has taken a toll on her this season.

Jul 15, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) reacts on the bench after a play in the final second of the game against the Connecticut Sun at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been on the receiving end of fierce and physical defense all season long.

With the Fever star set to miss her 10th game of 2025 (11th if you include the Commissioner's Cup) after injuring her right groin Tuesday night against the Connecticut Sun, head coach Stephanie White once again harped on the physicality Clark faces from opposing WNBA squads.

"Can you point it out to one thing or the other? No. But I do think the physicality with which teams are able to play with her is a factor," White told media ahead of Wednesday's contest against the New York Liberty.

Stephanie White on physicality being a factor in Caitlin Clark’s injury pic.twitter.com/IApSo782kk

— Robin Lundberg (@robinlundberg) July 16, 2025

Both White and Fever players, notably Sophie Cunningham, have voiced their displeasure about the physicality that defenses are allowed to play against Clark. While there may not be one specific play that directly links to Clark's lower-body injuries this season, White was emphatic that, cumulatively, that physicality has taken a toll.

"Certainly someone who has the ball in her hands as much as Caitlin, the physicality that she's experiencing for 40 minutes, it causes you to load differently, it causes you to explode differently, it causes you to accelerate and decelerate differently. It's not the free flowing momement that we want to see when it comes to freedom of movement. I think all of those things at times, while it might not be one blow or another, over time can contribute to that."

Indiana has attempted to take some of the pressure off of Clark, ceding more on-ball duties to Aari McDonald, but that hasn't deterred opponents from keying in on No. 22 and making her earn everything on the offensive end.

"That's why freedom of movement is a huge emphasis from our coaching standpoint when we have conversations at the league level," White noted.

The Fever are not the only ones who have taken note of the physicality Clark faces on a game-to-game basis. During Sunday's matchup between Indiana and the Dallas Wings, ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo questioned a sequence in which Clark received hard contact several times, but was only awarded a foul at the very end of the play.

The Fever will be without their young phenom for their Wednesday matchup against the Liberty, but the big-picture focus is Clark's long-term health. With the physicality from opponents being allowed to persist, that's becoming more of a concern.