Caitlin Clark has already missed several games this season. First, she was out with a quad injury. Then, she suffered a groin injury that kept her out again. In the Fever’s 85-77 win over the Connecticut Sun, Clark seemed to reaggravate her groin.
Clark is now officially questionable for the Fever’s game against the New York Liberty and might have to sit out again.
Facing the Liberty without Clark will be a challenge
The Fever have already faced the reigning champions twice this season. They lost the first matchup but won the second game due to a flamethrower performance from Clark upon her first return from her quad injury.
The Liberty are also shorthanded with Jonquel Jones sidelined due to an ankle injury. Nevertheless, facing the Liberty without Clark will be a tall task. If the Fever want to win, players like Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, and Natasha Howard will have to be at their best. With Jones out, Boston should be able to take advantage of the Liberty’s backup bigs in the paint. However, she also needs someone to get her the ball, and the Fever have struggled to do that consistently without Clark.
Caitlin Clark’s injury troubles haven’t allowed the Fever to build chemistry
Talent-wise, the Fever should be one of the best teams in the league. Instead, the Fever have a 12-10 record and are currently the number six seed in the regular-season standings. A recent string of wins over Atlanta, Dallas, and Connecticut allowed the Fever to climb in the standings. Before, the Fever were fighting for one of the final playoff spots with the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics.
A big reason for the Fever’s struggles is the fact that Clark has missed so much time already. She’s only played 13 games all season long. That has kept the team from building chemistry and has forced head coach Stephanie White to regularly change her rotations and strategies. Losing DeWanna Bonner after only a handful of games and bringing in Aari McDonald instead also didn’t help with the Fever’s inconsistencies.
If Clark has to miss even more time, it could be detrimental to the Fever’s postseason hopes. While the Fever got some good wins without Clark and figured out ways to succeed without their star guard, playing with her makes things easier for several of the players around her. If the Fever miss more significant chances to find a rhythm, it could come back to haunt the team in the playoffs when the margin of error is much smaller.