Projected schedule for Fever without Caitlin Clark threatens to bury team

The Indiana Fever found out after their first game of the 2025 season against the New York Liberty that star guard Caitlin Clark would be sidelined for at least two weeks with a quad injury. It's a big blow to a Fever team looking to establish themselves as contenders early in the league.

Clark, who has averaged 19 points per game along with 9.3 assists and six rebounds, will be on the sideline with coaching staff as she recuperates from the injury. And, Indiana will be experimenting with Sydney Colson, one of their bigger free agency signings this offseason, running the show on offense in the starting lineup in Clark's place.

We've seen just two games from the Fever without Clark on the floor, so the sample size is small for this prediction. But, given her two week return timeline and the teams the Fever are facing off with over that span of time, it feels like a possibility that Indiana could end up dropping most of their games sans Clark before her return. That's going to put them in a bit of a hole in the standings.

Fever may bury themselves without Clark

Assuming Clark returns by Indiana's June 17 game against the Liberty - which would be exactly two weeks since she last suited up for the team - the team would have played five games without Clark on the floor. They've already dropped one of those against the Washington Mystics, and they face the Mystics again before her return.

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In addition to Washington, the team will also have their hands full with the Atlanta Dream and, potentially, the Liberty if Clark isn't back for that contest. The only game that seems plausible to win is their game against the Chicago Sky. And, even then, this is a talented team seemingly clicking now.

Unless Indiana can figure out how to properly get its offense going without Clark - which is completely doable if they could focus on making Aliyah Boston's life easier - then this is a surprisingly rough stretch to not have Clark for if you're the Fever.

Involving Boston more consistently is going to be the key to them not dropping their tougher games against Atlanta, Washington, or possibly New York.

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