INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark has never asked for a break, and she’s rarely needed one. From her freshman year at Iowa through her rookie season with the Indiana Fever, she played in 181 straight games and captivated the basketball world along the way. Last year, however, Clark appeared in just 13 games due to various injuries and was forced to watch as Indiana nearly punched a ticket to the WNBA Finals without her.
“I got to be their biggest fan, and I think that was a great experience for me because through a lot of my career, everybody else is my biggest fan,” Clark said Sunday at the Fever’s first day of training camp. “That doesn’t mean I wasn’t cheering for my teammates (when healthy), but I was playing the most amount of minutes. I had the ball in my hands.”
Clark said she’s now “100 percent cleared” to play basketball and has been for a while. But Sunday marked the first time she participated in an official on-court Fever activity since she appeared in a game on July 15, 2025. She suffered a right groin strain in that contest — a Fever road win over the Connecticut Sun — and injured her left ankle during rehab, which knocked her out for the rest of the season.
Clark was back at the peak of her powers when she took home MVP honors for Team USA at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup qualifying tournament last month. The plan, according to a self-proclaimed wiser Clark, is to stay that way by acknowledging and embracing when she may need to dial it back during her third WNBA season.
“I was talking to (Fever coach Stephanie White) a little bit, and I’m the person that doesn’t want to sit out a single rep,” Clark said. “I want to be in there every single time. I just love competing, and I love playing. And none of that has changed, but I think just being a little bit smarter with my body and understanding what it takes. … Especially for camp days, these days are really long. You’re on the court for two and a half or three hours, putting in a lot of stuff.”
Clark, 24, said she hasn’t had a direct conversation with White or the rest of the coaching staff in which she’s been told “this is what you can do or can’t do,” but they have all become more aware of Clark’s workload. This season figures to be one of the longest in WNBA history, with the 2026 FIBA World Cup break from late August to mid-September. Unlike in 2024 when Clark didn’t make the Olympic team, she’s poised to be one of Team USA’s leaders this summer and won’t have the same opportunity to rest up before the WNBA season resumes.
With that in mind, White said it’s paramount for the Fever to find ways to keep Clark fresh. A key factor in that approach will be balancing when to limit Clark’s on-court participation with ensuring she receives enough action to remain sharp.
“It’s Day 1. She doesn’t have to be out there every rep, just being mindful of reps,” White said. “I think every year that she gets older, too, she understands the cadence is a little bit different. It’s not like she has to go out there and go through everything.”
White added that she shares the same philosophy for the Fever’s other stars and veterans, including Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. Unlike Clark, Boston and Mitchell played in every game last season. Mitchell’s campaign, however, ended scarily when she left Game 5 of the playoff semifinals against the Las Vegas Aces due to rhabdomyolysis — a serious condition in which a person’s muscle tissue breaks down. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, rhabdomyolysis can be caused by muscle overuse, which is what Mitchell cited after she was hospitalized. Boston, meanwhile, suffered a lower right leg injury in February while playing in professional three-on-three league “Unrivaled.” Both players have since made full recoveries.
Despite being sidelined during the World Cup qualifying tournament, Boston joked that “nothing” was different about Clark during their recent stint with Team USA. The star point guard was back to wowing the crowd and her teammates with her long-range 3s and flashy passes because “Caitlin is Caitlin,” Boston said.
Clark added she’s developed a close relationship with Fever athletic trainer Maria Witte, calling her “the most selfless person” throughout her rehab. Witte joined the Fever last year and has remained by Clark’s side throughout her Fever and Team USA obligations. Together, they’ve worked closely to understand what measures Clark must take to put her injury-riddled 2025 season in her rearview mirror while hopefully preventing those injuries in 2026.
“I’m very intentional about the things I’m trying to do,” Clark said. “I think as a young person, you just grab your basketball shoes and you’re like, ‘Oh, let’s just get out on the court and lace ’em up and go play,’ and that wasn’t obviously something that was going to help me through the longevity of my career. … But (now) I know I’m doing every single thing I can to be healthy and that’s why I’ve been healthy and why I’ll remain healthy as well.”