Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been limited to 13 games this season due to three separate soft tissue injuries to her left quad, left groin and right groin. During a recent appearance on Sue Bird’s podcast, “Bird’s Eye View,” Clark discussed her injuries and explained what she’s found to be the “most challenging” part of her frustrating season.
“I think the most challenging part of all this — so obviously I have the first injury, and then I sit out four games, and then I come back and I play really well and I feel really good,” Clark said. “And even the beginning of the year, like I played great, I started the year really good, I felt really great, my numbers were great, I was shooting the ball well, and then I get hurt. And you’re like, ‘OK, I gotta get healthy, I’m gonna do whatever I can to get back to where I was.’ Come back, I play really good, I play really good the second game, and then we go on a road trip and I wasn’t feeling the best. But as an athlete, you’re like, ‘I don’t want to be soft. Do I actually feel something? Do I not?’ So I think that’s been the hardest part, just the stop and go of everything.”
Clark has not played more than five consecutive games this season. Here’s a look at her injuries:
- May 3 (preseason game): Left quad
- May 28 to June 10 (5 games): Left quad
- June 26 to July 5 (5 games — four regular season plus the Commissioner’s Cup championship): Left groin
- July 16 to present (9 games): Right groin
Clark also lamented the fact that her injuries have not had a specific timeline.
“With the type of injuries I’ve dealt with, it’s not like, ‘Six weeks, you’re coming back for the Connecticut Sun game on Aug. 30’ or whatever,” Clark said. “It’s like, ‘How do you feel?’ And even when I have been back, I don’t know how I’m gonna feel the next day after playing when you’re dealing with these type of injuries. I think the patience of dealing with that and giving myself a lot of grace and just trying to be the best teammate I can. I miss being around my teammates and I miss practicing. I love practice. I love competing, I love talking crap to the practice boys. That’s one of my favorite things and I haven’t been able to do that as much.”
Spending so much time on the training table has been strange for Clark, who prior to this season had not missed a game due to injury since she was in high school. She said that at first she “didn’t understand” the pain she was feeling, but knows this experience will help her later in her career.
“I’ve never been through anything like this, and I think that’s probably why it’s been so hard,” Clark said. “I’ve never really dealt with injury and that’s probably been a challenge in itself because when I first was feeling pain, I didn’t understand it. I was like, ‘Am I just tight? Am I just getting old? Do I need to hit a stretch? Do I need to get rubbed out? Do I need some Icy Hot? Like, what’s going on here?’ So I think it’s been a balance of understanding my body and whether it’s this year or next year, or even throughout my career, I’m going to be very thankful for this moment. I know this is gonna help me understand my body better.”
When Clark has been able to get on the floor this season, she’s struggled to find a rhythm. While she’s averaging 16.5 points, five rebounds and 8.8 assists, she’s shooting just 36.7% from the field, including 27.9% from 3-point range. Notably, she is 2 of 35 from behind the arc on the road.
The 17-14 Fever sit in fifth place and are in good shape to make the playoffs, but they’ll need Clark back at full strength if they want to make any noise.