Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark still has no timetable on when she may return from her groin injury that she re-aggravated during the July 15 rematch with the Connecticut Sun.
Clark thus far has missed 11 of the Fever's 23 games, including the Commissioner's Cup championship win. Head coach Stephanie White told reporters during practice on Sunday that Clark will be seeking other opinions to have a more clearer and direct timeline given the extent of her injury.
She will receive more tests later this week, so she is not expected to play in Tuesday's game against New York, according to Coach White. It appeared Clark injured herself on a non-contact play after giving a bounce pass to Kelsey Mitchell with under a minute left in the game. She came up grabbing her right groin and stormed to the bench visibly upset draping a towel over her head.
"I don't expect her to be available on Tuesday, so we're just going to continue to take it one day at a time and let her get evaluations early this week and then once we've done that, hopefully we'll have a clear line of what it looks like," White told Indy Star's Chloe Peterson.
She adds they’ll have a more clear idea of what the recovery time will look like after those evaluations are done.
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) July 20, 2025
White’s full answer: pic.twitter.com/UUewBePjgz
The Fever haven't always fared well without Caitlin Clark
As All-Star weekend wrapped in Indianapolis, it has been nothing short of a roller coaster first half for the Fever. Having Clark absent from the lineup has created some problems for them. They're 4-6 without her this season and 8-5 when she has played. Inconsistencies has been their kryptonite so far this season.
Yes, they did go into Minnesota without Clark and beat the top seeded Lynx to clinch the Commissioner's Cup, but the entire rhythm and dynamic of the offense changes when she isn't playing. After all, she's the team's facilitator. Clark averages 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.
The offense runs through her and despite some recent shooting struggles, her presence keeps defenses on their heels resulting in various opportunities for her teammates.
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This is the fourth muscle injury that she has endured this season and it has fans holding their breath in worry of her becoming injury prone in just her second season in the league. Her injury woes haven't frustrated anyone more than they have Clark herself. She wants nothing more than to be out with her team, but the Fever know that they have to tread lightly with this most recent injury due to it being a re-aggravation.
It forced her to make the decision to withdraw from the 3-point shooting contest Friday and the All-Star game, both being held in front of their home crowd.
"When the injury happened, it was pretty frustrating, considering, I knew the coming days were gonna hold for myself," Clark said prior to the All-Star game Saturday.
The Fever suffered a gruesome 98-77 loss to New York in their final game before the All-Star break, a game they did not have Clark available leading to speculation that she would in fact miss All-Star weekend. They seemed out of sorts on both ends of the floor.
Shots weren't falling, passing wasn't always clean and they could never really find their tempo for most of the game. When a team is down their quarterback, which is exactly what Clark is to the Fever's offense, the schemes are going to be different.
Sophie Cunningham emphasized that the Fever are a different team when Clark isn't in the lineup - that it seems as though they become two different teams. This itself can create conflict when seeking a winning formula.
Without Clark, the Fever need a full team effort and more big games from their All-Stars Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, both of which have been consistently efficient this season. The Fever currently sit in sixth place in the WNBA standings where the top eight teams earn a playoff bid.
With just under two months remaining in the regular season, the Fever will need to find consistency from everyone to still be sitting in the playoff picture when Clark does finally return.