What Caitlin Clark learned from ‘isolating’ Fever injury absence

Caitlin Clark had time to experience the game in a different fashion last season.

Her 2025, cut short due to a season-ending groin injury, was limited to just 13 appearances, causing her to miss what became a run to a do-or-die semifinal Game 5 in Las Vegas against the eventual champion Aces.

Clark, now back with the Fever in training camp, discussed the challenges of last season.

“It’s hard, it’s very isolating to come to practice every single day and spend two hours getting treatment and rehab and then you come out here and you have to show up and be the best teammate you can be,” she said.

“I think that taught me a lot about what I can do if I’m not on the court, and I got to be their biggest fan,” she continued. “I think that was a great experience for me because through a lot of my career, everyone else was my biggest fan. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t cheering for my teammates. It was like I was playing the most minutes, I had the ball in my hands and when you’re not doing that you have to find another way to impact the team.”

Clark’s scoring dropped to 16.5 points per game last season after finishing at 19.4 in her 2024 high-profile Rookie of the Year campaign.

Though her assists jumped from 8.4 to 8.8, and her turnovers dropped from 5.6 to 5.1.

This season, her third in the WNBA, the megastar floor general insists she’s 100 percent back after diligently attacking her rehab to prepare for 2026.

“I’ve been playing pickup, playing live all the time. Eventually, skill workouts get a little boring, so you just want to play and play and play,” she said. “I’m the person that doesn’t want to miss a rep, I want to be out there every single time. Like I just love competing and none of that has changed. But I think just being a little smarter with my body and understanding what it takes — I think especially through camp days — taking care of my body is probably the most important thing.”

Clark and the Fever, who just re-signed star center Aliyah Boston, are expected to be one of the better teams in the WNBA this season.

— with AP