Caitlin Clark's return date remains murky after latest update from Fever HC

Caitlin Clark is going on her sixth straight missed game for the Indiana Fever this season, which is another huge chunk of time missed due to injury for the star guard.

The All Star team captain hasn't suited up since a June 25 contest against the Seattle Storm ended in a loss, and she's watched Indiana from the bench as they won the Commissioner's Cup final while also dropping a game to the struggling Los Angeles Sparks.

With her injury timeline so up in the air, head coach Stephanie White provided a key update on Clark's return status for the Fever. The biggest takeaway from the information White gave to reporters is that Clark is not a fan of minutes restrictions.

That's why the team is taking a while to get her back on the floor - they want to ensure that she's at 100% health prior to sending her back out in the the starting lineup for big minutes, as putting her back out with no restrictions when she's not completely ready to go can cause yet another injury ahead of the All Star game and break.

Indiana's next game is up against the Golden State Valkyries at home on Wednesday afternoon, which will be the Fever's first camp day game of the year. Camp day, for newer WNBA fans, is when camps tend to attend games en masse and flood arenas with tons of support and screaming.

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Clark, who has such a large and young fanbase, could make a highly anticipated return during that game as a means of both getting back on the floor after a long rest for the team and giving the kids in attendance a show.

Clark's return seems to be on the horizon

Clark could come back against the Valkyries, but they're also a pretty hard nosed defensive team that might be a little difficult to face off with to get ramped back up into WNBA action. The Fever's following contest against the Atlanta Dream on Friday is no better, though.

The Dream, who have contention status written all over their performance so far this season, have the length to really pester Clark in the backcourt. So, maybe a game against Golden State as they don't have that same size to bother Clark with could be the teams' best bet. Clark also likely doesn't care what the matchup is - she just wants to get back on the floor and compete.

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