Caitlin Clark proves provides first update on quad injury, potential return timeline

INDIANAPOLIS — For the first time since suffering a quad injury that has had her out for a week-and-a-half, Caitlin Clark spoke to the media after practice on Thursday.

Clark said she was “making a lot of progress” and will be re-evaluated over the weekend, matching the two-week timeframe initially given by the Fever.

“I’ll be reevaluated this weekend,” Clark said, “so I’ll miss this weekend’s game, but after that it’s day by day and see how I feel and just kind of turn to the medical staff and what they think. I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress. I feel good. I’m not going to rush coming back. It’s just not worth it, but after this weekend, I’ll be reevaluated and we’ll have a better idea.”

The injury, Clark revealed, occurred early during Indiana’s game against the Fever. While Clark couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment or play it happened, she said it happened early on.

“Obviously, adrenaline covers up a lot of stuff when you’re in the heat of battle and after the game I had some pain and then I got an MRI and that gave me the result that I didn’t want to see,” Clark said. “But you know those type of things don’t lie.”

The Fever do have a game on Tuesday, which would come after Clark has been re-evaluated. When asked if she could be available for that game, however, she was non-committal.

“We’re trying not to put like an exact date out there because it is kind of a day-by-day thing and see how I feel,” Clark said. “This type of injury, you don’t know. When I wake up, I’ll feel different than the day before. We’ll see. It could be a possibility, but I could also not be available for that game, too.”

It’s the first time Clark has missed games in not just her brief professional career, but also even before her college career, too. It’s a new challenge for the second-year guard, who has remained a constant figure on the sidelines throughout, cheering her teammates on…and still arguing with the refs.

“I think it’s been different,” Clark said. “I think just having good perspective is the best way to approach it. Like, yeah, you can be frustrated and what not, but I think the medical team has done a really good job of doing my rehab every single day, staying in a routine, coming in getting shots up.

“But more than anything I think just focusing on being a really good teammate, being there for my teammates, being a voice for them because that’s what I am when I’m playing, so you got to still be that consistent voice when I’m sitting on the bench.”

Along those lines, Clark has sat alongside the coaching staff during games, which has also allowed her a “unique perspect,” as she called it on Thursday, as well as the chance to continue learning even while sideliend.

“When you’re out there playing and actually in the heat of the moment, you don’t realize everything, you don’t always see everything,” Clark said. “You see things from a different perspective that maybe the coaching staff didn’t see. So it’s certainly different. I’m trying to kind of be that connector between the coaches and then my teammates at the same time, whether that’s in the locker room at halftime, whether that’s during time outs.

“It’s taught me a lot. I’ve never been in that position before, actually getting to watch from the bench for an extended period of time.”

Without her, Clark and the Fever have struggled, going 1-2 while dealing with injuries to Sydney Colson and Sophie Cunningham during that span, too. It’s been a trying time for the entire team, which came into this season with championship expectations that have had to be put on pause for the time being.

Clark joked that she is not a patient person, so that, too, has challenged her during her absence. At the same time, she is also approaching that from a learning perspective, too.

“I’ve never been a patient person in my entire life, so this is definitely testing me a little bit, but I think it’s going to be really good for me,” Clark said. “Like I said, I’ve just tried to approach it in the best way I possibly can. I can’t change it. But yeah, I think my patience has definitely grown a lot and like I said, just trying to grow and learn and I think I’ve certainly done that.”

That patience will have to be in place for at least a little bit longer as she’ll miss at least one more game against the Sky over the weekend.

If things go well for Clark and the Fever during her re-evaluation, a return could be just around the corner for the superstar guard.