Clark, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, was ruled out of the Indiana Fever’s game against the Dallas Wings on Friday, June 27, due to a left groin injury, putting a dent in the anticipated matchup against Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA draft.
It marks Clark’s second consecutive game missed with a groin injury and her seventh missed game of the season after a quad injury sidelined her for five games earlier this month.
The Fever (7-8) currently sit in ninth place in the WNBA standings heading into Friday’s road matchup against the Wings, which marks the second game of a back-to-back for the Fever. Indiana has gone 2-4 without Clark.
Head coach Stephanie White said she learned of Clark’s groin injury late Wednesday night. She said Clark remains ‘day-to-day,’ adding Clark’s availability depends on ‘her rehab, therapy and strength training.’
‘She’s tough and a quick healer, so we’ll see,’ White added on Thursday.
The Fever are looking to bounce back from a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday, June 27. Indiana had a 10-point lead over Los Angeles with 9:26 remaining in the contest, but the Fever had a fourth-quarter meltdown and were outscored 35-17 in the final period. The Sparks went on to win 85-75 to move to 5-11 on the season.
‘With the injuries particularly, you can’t maintain a consistent rotation,’ White said following the loss to the Sparks. ‘When you have a such a ball dominant player like Caitlin, who makes everyones job a lot easier, out of the game, then you’ve got to find ways to try to position them to get some easy ones. … We don’t run quite as much with Caitlin off the floor, but we still need to.’
Clark suffered a quad injury during the Fever’s 90-88 loss to the New York Liberty on May 24. Clark returned to the Fever’s lineup on June 14 in the Fever’s 102-88 win over the Liberty after missing five games, which officially ended her longest stretch of missed due to injury in her collegiate or WNBA career. She dropped 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in her first game back.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.