Indiana Fever All-Star Caitlin Clark is finally feeling like herself again.
After being limited to 13 games in the 2025 WNBA season because of a series of soft tissue injuries, Clark said ‘it feels nice to finally be back to a hundred percent’ following her first Team USA senior training camp practice.
‘I put together a pretty incredible stretch of never missing a game,’ Clark said during her media availability on Friday. ‘The fact is when you’re a professional athlete, it’s going to come at some point. That’s just how it goes. I think it’s honestly taught me more than I’ve probably ever learned through the course of my career of how to take care of your body, how to get right, how to stay healthy, and then just taking time for yourself.’
Clark has to shake off some rust. She gave up a side-step, game-winning 3-pointer to Paige Bueckers, who confidently said ‘that’s game’ and white (team) wins’ during Friday’s practice scrimmage. Despite dealing with some early nerves, Clark said being on the court again was ‘pretty satisfying.’
‘It just made me smile quite a bit. I really did kind of feel like myself out there,’ she said on Friday. ‘Just continuing to get my lungs back, but I felt like I was moving really well.’
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The practice was a full-circle moment for Clark, who wasn’t selected to represent Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a decision that sparked controversy. But Clark said she didn’t feel disappointed about being excluded. ‘It could’ve gone either way of me being on the team or not being on the team,’ she said in June 2024. Instead, it gave Clark ‘a little more motivation’ and something to work toward.
‘In my past, it’s been all junior (Team USA) national teams and I’ve been cut from some of those and I’ve played for three of them. I’ve experienced both sides of it,’ Clark said on Friday. ‘This is the biggest honor you can possibly have, playing basketball in our country is wearing USA across your chest. I’m just excited to be here and honored. Obviously it’s kind of like the start to the new Olympic cycle.’
Clark said she felt nervous when she first stepped on the court at practice alongside her compatriots, who feature a mix of young stars (that Bueckers dubbed the ‘young and turnt’ core) and experienced veterans. Clark last played in the WNBA on July 15 before being sidelined by a right groin injury and missing rest of the regular season and the Fever’s postseason run to the semifinals.
‘It was one injury and then it was a little better and then it kind of continued to compound and get worse and other things pop up. And then I had the ankle injury,’ Clark recalled on Friday. ‘I did everything I could to try to be able to come back and be able to play for my team, but it just didn’t really work. I think that was almost a way of relief for myself, just knowing that I gave everything I could to possibly try to play, but my body just wasn’t really letting me.’
Clark continued to rehab after the season ended, a process she said ‘took probably longer than I expected’ adding her ‘body’s in a really good spot.’
And the nerves quickly melted away when she was back in her element. ‘When I touched the basketball to start warming up before the practice even started, that’s probably when I felt pretty comfortable,’ she said.
‘I’ve worked so hard. I haven’t taken a break since the beginning of the (2025) WNBA season, just all my rehab and getting back to where I wanted to be,’ she explained. ‘This has kind of been my next thing that I’ve been working for since our season ended. … For myself, it’s not proving it to yourself again, but it’s just that feeling.’
USA women’s national team managing director Sue Bird said she’s noticed a new level of maturity from Clark following her injury-plagued season.
‘I can really only imagine, for a player like Caitlin, you come off your college season — epic. You go straight to your (rookie) WNBA season. You finish a first-teamer,’ Bird said on Thursday. ‘You have this long offseason, where you probably can’t wait to get back on the court only to have a couple of injuries sideline her.
‘That is a challenge for a player… I thought what was most impressive was just the way she’s staying engaged. You could see it whether you’re watching (the Fever) on TV or you’re catching something on social media. … I think that really shows her maturity.’
Clark has been busy in the offseason, rehabbing, attending the Team USA camp and even participating in the Annika Pro-Am golf exhibition last month. Clark said she ‘plans to play in the WNBA’ for the upcoming season as CBA negotiations continue, but noted that her golfing career may be over.
‘I put the golf clubs away now,’ she joked. ‘I’m truly focused on basketball. It makes my body a little sore, so I would rather just stick to basketball. But I love it and it’s always great to be outside.’
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