Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark went her entire collegiate career at Iowa without missing a single game. In just her second season in the WNBA, she's missed 12 of the Fever's 24 games. This doesn't include her being forced to withdrawal her name from All-Star weekend which was played on the Fever's home court.
And it appears that her return is still very much up in the air after head coach Stephanie White provided an unclear status update Tuesday ahead of their game against New York.
It was reported by IndyStar's Chloe Peterson that White didn't give any new information. Clark had been struggling after her initial return from the right groin injury. She had re-aggravated it on a non-contact play where she passed the ball to teammate Kelsey Mitchell during a game back on July 15 against the Connecticut Sun.
Clark came up holding the inside of her thigh and stormed to the bench visibly frustrated. White also had no information surrounding Clark visiting another doctor for a further evaluation while the team was in New York.
"I haven't spoken to trainers about that yet," she said.
The Fever have to prepare for worst case scenario
White is focused on moving forward with the pieces that she does have until Clark is ready to return, even if that doesn't happen this season. But that still remains to be seen. The Fever will find themselves in an uncomfortable position if they continue to struggle as a unit. They're still in a playoff hunt, but that isn't any reason to jeopardize the longevity of one of their players.
White has made it very clear that this is an injury that they won't rush Clark back on and will encourage any time necessary for complete healing. Despite the disappointment amid Clark's absence, the Fever have still proven they can win games without her, but the consistency in winning hasn't been there all season.
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They need to fight and compete to keep themselves in a position to claim one of the eight playoff spots in hopes Clark may be able to come back for the post season - this is best case scenario.
Clark seeing another doctor was to get a more clearer opinion on the severity of the injury. This is obviously one she has already dealt, but the Fever are hopeful they won't have to shut her down the remainder of the season.
The Fever are 4-7 without her in the lineup and are going to have to rely heavily on their other big pieces such as Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston to step up and carry much of the load. This is the fourth muscle injury Clark has faced already this season and it leaves Fever fans in a panic, hoping that she isn't going to become injury prone going forward in her career.
Recently, White explained Clark's latest injury status as "positive" as the team felt her rehab was trending in the right direction. After the team's disappointing loss to the Liberty on Tuesday, there isn't certainty surrounding where the Fever go from here and their star player may be out longer than some expected.
The Fever return home Thursday to host Las Vegas at 7pm EST.