Caitlin Clark to return from quad injury to face defending champion Liberty
Caitlin Clark ended practice Friday by making a halfcourt shot and winning a little bit of lunch money in the process. And with that, the Indiana Fever star is ready to play again.
Clark — barring any unforeseen setbacks — is expected to be in the lineup when the Fever play host to the reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty on Saturday afternoon. She missed the last five Indiana games with a quadriceps injury.
"As long as we don't have any regressions, she's going to be ready to roll," Fever coach Stephanie White said.
Clark returned to practice this week, and her comeback game just happens to be a nationally televised one against the Liberty — the defending champs and, at 9-0, the last unbeaten team left in the league this season. New York is winning its games by an average of 19 points.
"I'm really excited," Clark said. "I think it's definitely been a process. I think the hardest part is when you like begin to feel really good and then it's just a process of working yourself back into actually getting up and down and getting out there with my teammates."
The halfcourt shot at the end of practice was the kicker of a friendly competition, and Clark (who says she rarely wins the halfcourt contests) did wave a few dollars that she won around afterward — in case anyone needed a reminder of her shooting range.
The Fever (4-5) went 2-3 in Clark's absence. She was averaging 19 points, 9.3 assists, six rebounds and 1.3 steals per game when she got hurt. There's still a long way to go this season, but no player in WNBA history has ever finished a season averaging that many points, assists, rebounds and steals per game. It's feasible, however. In her rookie campaign, Clark averaged 19.2 points, 8.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game for the year, but those were dragged down by her more inconsistent start to the season: in the season's second half, Clark put up 22.3, 10.0, and 1.3 per game in those categories.
Clark freely acknowledges that she's not a patient person, but she understood the process and why it was important to not skip any steps in her recovery. Among the treatments: "anything under the sun," she said, including everything from massage to weights to hyperbaric therapy.
"It was certainly a learning opportunity, and I think it's going to benefit me a lot throughout my career, just falling back and understanding certain moments like this," Clark said. "But I'm super, super excited. I'm antsy to get out there and probably shake off a little bit of rust and then play."
Clark's return is the latest bit of big basketball news in Indianapolis, along with the Indiana Pacers going into Friday's Game 4 of the NBA Finals leading the Oklahoma City Thunder 2-1. Clark and many other Fever players were at Game 3 on Wednesday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the same court where they'll be taking on the Liberty on Saturday.
Even though Clark and the Fever have an early game Saturday, some — Clark included — plan on at least seeing some of Game 4 on Friday night.
"It's incredible. It's incredible," White said when asked about the energy around basketball in Indianapolis right now. "As someone who grew up in the state of Indiana and as the saying goes, 'This is Indiana.' And so, the energy's incredible. It's such a fun time to be in the city."
The Fever are also expected to have guard Sophie Cunningham (ankle) back for the game against the Liberty on Saturday. Cunningham has averaged 6.5 points in four games so far this season.
"It's really reintegrating two of our top six players, right? Reintegrating them back into the system," White said. "Some of the things that we run will look different than without Caitlin on the floor, certainly. Sophie's versatility and being able to play in multiple positions ... it is like starting Day 1 again."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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