Source: Andy Lyons / Getty
The WNBA season is only half as long as the NBA, which makes any sidelining injury much more detrimental to the team’s success, and the Indiana Fever are about to find that out the hard way.
The team announced Monday morning that Caitlin Clark will be out for at least two weeks after suffering a left quad strain. Those two weeks amount to four games, including a game in DC against the Washington Mystics, at home against the Connecticut Sun, the Mystics, and a road game against the Chicago Sky.
The most anticipated game among those is against the Sky, due to her ongoing rivalry with Angel Reese, which was only heightened during last week’s game when Clark committed a take foul on Reese, causing her to fall to the ground. Reese hopped up and immediately went after Clark, but she was held back by teammates, telling the media that it was a “Basketball play.”
That was the season opener, and the Fever easily won, 93-58, but it hasn’t all been positive, although it’s very early in the season. The Fever is currently sitting at a 2-2 record, and Clark is the team’s leading scorer with 19 points, along with nine rebounds. The team’s losses were only by a point or two, which suggests that they’re on the right track and should have a fairly competitive run until Clark gets reevaluated on June 9.
Her left quad was bothering her earlier this month when she missed a preseason game, which she described as “just a little tightness” at the time, and by her own admission, came from “probably just a little too much basketball.”
Fever head coach Stephanie White isn’t sure if that’s the injury’s source, but wants to make sure it doesn’t become a lingering issue.
“Obviously, everyone wants to watch her play. But for me, it’s maintaining perspective,” White said, according to Men’s Journal. “It’s making sure that we address this in a way that doesn’t affect long term, that we take care of it, don’t over-push, don’t overexert, making sure that we take the long-game approach to this so that we’re not having lingering issues throughout the course of the season. Sometimes great players don’t tell you when they’re hurting. I’m glad that she did, because we need to nip this in the bud.”
See social media’s reaction to her injury below.