Sideline Video of Fever's Caitlin Clark Turns Heads Amid Injury Absence
Sideline Video of Fever's Caitlin Clark Turns Heads Amid Injury Absence originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Though the Indiana Fever were without star guard Caitlin Clark for the fourth straight game in Saturday's matchup with the Chicago Sky, but as it turns out, they didn't really need her.
Advertisement
The Fever ran away with a 79-52 win behind a 17-point performance from Kelsey Mitchell, plus 13 points from Natasha Howard and 12 points from Clark's replacement Aari McDonald as the team won its second straight game and pulled its record even at 4-4.
And while Indiana didn't have the benefit of Clark's expertise on the court, she did assist in another, equally valuable way.
X user @chrisclxrk posted a video of an animated Clark on the sideline coaching and firing up her teammates with the caption, 'Idc what she says this is a future head coach.'
The video caught the attention of several Fever fans, many of whom hit the comment section to express their thoughts on Clark as a future head basketball coach.
'And they are dialed into what she is saying. They all know. She is the one. Look at DB nodding her head in agreement. They all know,' one fan noted.
Advertisement
'🤔At some point long down the road Caitlin and Kate (Martin) will be Head Coach and assistant head coach at Iowa 😳😜😎,' another fan stated.
'She literally has this Veteran Team nodding in Agreement with What she was saying!!! She inspires Confidence in her teammates & they Believe what she is saying cuz she is Proof that it can be done, so they Do!' a third fan exclaimed.
'THIS IS A LEADER OF A TEAM YAW, EVEN WHEN SHE NOT ON THE COURT 💪 #CoachCC,' one user replied.
'I love how she's feels more comfortable being the voice in the locker room,' remarked another user.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) applauds her teammates during the first half of a WNBA game against the Chicago Sky at United Center.Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The Fever are 2-2 with Clark out of the lineup.
Advertisement
There is some cautious optimism that Clark could be ready for the team's matchup against the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday.
'I think we're trying not to put an exact date out there because it is kind of a day-by-day thing and seeing how I feel,' Clark noted. 'With this type of injury, you don't know if I'll feel different than the day before and we'll see. It could be a possibility [to play against Atlanta] but I could also not be able to play in that game too.'
Related: Candace Parker Breaks Silence on Rumored Caitlin Clark Tension
Related: Tyrese Haliburton's Girlfriend Turns Heads With Behavior at Pacers-Thunder Game 2
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
12 minutes ago
- Fox News
LA Sparks star Kelsey Plum 'very ‘frustrated' with WNBA officiating after team's overtime loss
The Golden State Valkyries, a franchise playing in its inaugural season, outlasted the Los Angeles Sparks in a hard-fought overtime victory in Los Angeles on Monday. Kelsey Plum was on the court for 41 minutes and finished the 89-81 overtime loss with a team-high 24 points. Despite playing the majority of the game, Plum ended the contest with just six free throw attempts. In the postgame press conference, a visibly agitated Plum pointed out the way referees called the game. She suggested that the referees missed multiple foul calls. Plum's angst seemed to be further exacerbated by her assertion that her tendency to go to the basket should warrant more whistles in her favor. "And I'm going to get fined for saying this, but like I drive (to the basket) more than anyone in the league, so to shoot six free throws is f-----g absurd," the two-time WNBA champion said. "And I got scratches on my face, I've got scratches on my body and these guards on these other team get these ticky tack fouls and I'm sick of it. I get fouled like that every possession." An admittedly "very frustrated" Plum added that she "talk(s) to the refs nice" and says a prayer "before the game." Sparks coach Lynne Roberts' sentiments were largely in line with the team's star player. "Opposing teams are being allowed to defend her with excessive contact… we've got to talk to the league about that, but it isn't right." Plum then jokingly said she would "cover" her coach's fine, if the league decided to issue one. Monday's loss dropped the Sparks record to 3-7. Plum will face her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, on Wednesday as the WNBA's Commissioner's Cup continues. Plum won two WNBA championships during her eight-year run with the franchise. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Watch: Sue Bird discusses Caitlin Clark's passing and WNBA ownership
Few names are more synonymous with basketball excellence than Sue Bird. A four-time WNBA champion, Bird spent her entire 20-year career with the Seattle Storm, where she earned a record 13 WNBA All-Star selections, made eight All-WNBA teams, won five Olympic gold medals, and still holds the league's all-time assists record with 3,234. Advertisement And on Saturday, she'll be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame at the Tennessee Theatre. Bird has remained just as impactful off the court since her retirement in 2022. She became part-owner of the Storm in April 2024 after joining the team's ownership group, Force 10 Hoops. In May, she was appointed as the first managing director of the USA women's national team. If that wasn't enough, the 44-year-old is also making waves in podcasting. She co-hosts 'A Touch More' with her wife, former soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and hosts her women's basketball-focused show, 'Bird's Eye View.' On the latest episode of 'No Offseason,' Zena Keita and Ben Pickman interviewed Bird to discuss WNBA media, her passion for podcasting, the unique perspective she brings to team ownership, and what makes Caitlin Clark such a special passer. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the 'No Offseason' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Keita: Sue, you officially retired in 2022, but you haven't really fully stepped away from the game and you've been very much involved since your retirement. One of the biggest things you've been doing since is podcasting, and you've inserted your voice in a unique way into the world of women's basketball. When you think about the media landscape right now, we know there's been a boom. … You know what it was like when there wasn't that much interest in your practices or games, and now everyone wants to get in there. So what do you see in the media landscape right now when it comes to women's basketball? Bird: Obviously, there's been a ton of growth, which is something we always wanted. It wasn't that we didn't have any coverage, but it was just that we didn't have enough, and now that's starting to enter into the picture. The way I refer to it is like an ecosystem. Think about what happened as the WNBA boomed in the last year or two. This ecosystem grew and more people were coming into it, but we didn't have a balance. We didn't have enough people who really understood the league, who knew the league, knew its history, knew why certain things would happen, why certain wouldn't, and had a true understanding of it. I think that's where I come into play, and not just myself, but other former players who are doing this and people like yourselves who are involved in women's basketball. Advertisement It's important to balance that ecosystem and to have an understanding, because with all the influx of people who were new to women's basketball, they were getting some of the narratives wrong. Some of them were just off, meaning those narratives took on a life of their own at times, and there wasn't something to counteract it, and there wasn't that balance. So the more that starts to increase, and as those of us who really know the game start to get larger platforms, it can all exist. Because sadly in our world today, you do need the hot take, you do need the wrong take, and you need to have these conversations to really get to the bottom of things. But what was missing was accuracy I would say. Keita: Exactly, and I imagine that's what you want to bring with 'Bird's Eye View.' I've been really enjoying that content, and particularly the accuracy you just mentioned where you're allowing players to tell their stories themselves, and provide that perspective and narrative themselves. Was that the impetus for why you launched your podcast? To be able to give players that lane that maybe you remember missing as a player? Or were you even hearing in the ecosystem from players saying, 'I really wish I could talk to a former player as opposed to a media member.' Is that one of the things that 'Bird's Eye View' wants to address? Bird: Yeah, partly, a lot of what I said about the ecosystem was more pertinent to 'A Touch More' because that's kind of how it got started. Then as we were doing that show, we talked about all different sports across the board, but obviously the WNBA and women's basketball was something we tapped into a lot. But I just found that I wanted to go deeper, and I wanted to talk about it more. And what I'm finding now as I'm doing it, is what you're saying, which is that I just really love having these conversations with players. I do think there's that element of being a former player where I'm able to disarm in a different way. But I also know that these players know I'm not trying to get any 'got you' moments, and I'm not trying to catch them out with anything. I'm just trying to have a real conversation. And I do think it gives them a chance to really talk about things and have somebody who can connect, relate and hopefully leave space for them to tell their side. So I've been really enjoying it and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I do have a couple of minutes on each side of the interview where I get to talk about the specific basketball things I want to talk about. Sometimes it's players, teams, themes, whatever it is. But for the most part, it's really just letting these players have that space. Pickman: Sue, when we had Candace Parker on the show, she talked about sometimes needing to take the white gloves off and the importance of that in the ecosystem. What are your thoughts on how media can do things differently, or about the idea of being fair but also critical when the situation warrants it? Advertisement Bird: Fair but critical is a great way of saying it, and that's something that not just Candace and I have talked about, but really all of us have for a long time. There wasn't a lot of critique, and in fairness to everyone who's been around for 20-plus years, it felt too risky to critique at times because it was so easy for so long to jump on that critique and then paint it across the whole league. If you said one bad thing about one thing, that was it: the whole league had no value. So it felt risky. But I do think we're now getting into this place where you can have both. But the important part is to be fair while also critical; both have to exist. And like I said, no 'we got you' moments, but real conversations. And in those real conversations come shooting slumps, come a game or a play where you look back and wish you did something different, or maybe a relationship with a teammate you wish you handled differently. Those are just real conversations. Pickman: You've mentioned some of your conversations with players, but I'm also curious about your conversations with ownership. We know you have an ownership stake in the Seattle Storm, and obviously there's an ongoing CBA negotiation. What have you learned about being on that side of the business? Have you talked to Ginny Gilder, Lisa Brummel, and the other members of the Storm ownership group about the ongoing negotiation? And what do you bring to the mix in terms of those talks? Bird: Yeah, I definitely do stay in touch with them, and what I'm bringing is what I knew I was going to bring the minute I became an owner just over a year ago. Which is I'm on the ownership side of things, but I have a player's perspective and that's unique. At times, I'm able to learn from the ownership group because I don't know that side as well. But then I'm also able to provide a little bit of understanding and nuance on what a player might be thinking in certain situations or certain moments. It's just a really good balance. And at the end of the day, I actually don't feel that much different being on this side as opposed to the player side. We all just want a great deal, and we just want this league to succeed, period, point blank. Pickman: You're the all-time leader in assists, and we have some great passers in the league right now. Courtney Vandersloot unfortunately tore her ACL this past weekend, and she's one of the all-time great passers too. But Caitlin Clark is very much on pace it seems to chase down your record one day. Bird: These records have no chance because they play way more games now. I don't want to get too caught up in the games played because it is what it is. I don't feel any way about it because records are meant to be broken. But I played 34 games for the majority of my career. So the players today are on the clock with these records, they better break those things in like five years. Pickman: Very true, and they probably will. But I wanted to ask, what makes Caitlin Clark so special as a passer in your mind? And what separates her as a passer compared to all her peers? Bird: The important thing to recognize here with Caitlin, and this conversation is we're not even bringing her name up unless she has incredible court vision, and unless she has the type of vision where she's able to anticipate and read. What I would add to that and what I think separates her, on top of all the qualities that most great passers have, is that she has strength. Sometimes she's able to make passes not because she sees it or because she's reading the defense — yes, those things exist, but that's not why she's able to make the pass — she's able to make the pass because she can actually get it there. The easiest way to see it is with her full-court passes, but they also happen in the half-court. Sometimes she'll have picked her dribble up, somebody will cut, and she still has the zip to get a backdoor pass off the bounce to her teammate on time. I would add that strength as a differentiator to some of the other great passers we've seen. You can listen to full episodes of No Offseason for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube. (Top Photo:for Fast Company)
CBS News
39 minutes ago
- CBS News
Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier earns 2nd Player of the Week award this season
Minnesota Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier has earned her second Western Conference Player of the Week award this season, adding another accolade to her MVP-level year. Collier's latest honor covers two Lynx games, during which she averaged 23 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks. She logged a double-double in each game. The 28-year-old forward was named the West's Player of the Week for the first four games of the season and Player of the Month for May. Collier leads the WNBA this season in points per game (25.5), steals per game (2.2), player efficiency rating (32.1) and win shares (2.4). Her play has the Lynx off to a 9-0 start, matching how the Lynx began their last championship season in 2017. Last season, Collier finished second in MVP voting behind the Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson. She's having another stellar season for the Aces, but if Collier continues at her current level of play, it'll be hard for voters to deny her the first MVP award of her career. Collier also made the All-WNBA First Team last year and was named Defensive Player of the Year amid the Lynx's surprising but ultimately unavailing run to the WNBA Finals. She also won a gold medal with Team USA at the Summer Olympics. Since then, she's had a productive offseason. She was named the MVP of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 basketball league she co-founded, and TIME magazine listed her among its 100 Most Influential People.
