Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been cleared to play Saturday afternoon against the undefeated New York Liberty in Indianapolis after missing five games due to injury.
Fever coach Stephanie White announced that Clark would be ready to play in the high-profile game as long as there was no regression to her quad injury.
The return comes as welcome news to both the Fever and the WNBA, which have both seen TV viewership declines of more than 50% since Clark was injured almost three weeks ago.
“I’m super, super excited,” Clark said Friday. “I’m antsy to get out there and shake off a little rust and play.”
White also said guard Sophie Cunningham, who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, would return to action Saturday. Cunningham has averaged 6.5 points in four games so far this season.
The Fever (4-5) also announced that they waived guard Aari McDonald, who was signed on June 1 via the WBNA’s emergency hardship exception in order to make the roster moves. McDonald averaged 11 points, 3 assists and 2 steals per game over three games.
The Fever went 2-3 in Clark’s absence. She has averaged 19 points, 9.3 assists and six rebounds per game in four games this season.
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 at 3 p.m. 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.”
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
Editor's note: You can comment on IBJ stories by signing in to your IBJ account. If you have not registered, please sign up for a free account now. Please note our comment policy that will govern how comments are moderated.