The look on Caitlin Clark’s face said it all.
Instead of celebrating an assist to Kelsey Mitchell to help seal a win for the Indiana Fever, Clark hung her head. A sellout crowd in Boston that had come to see the city’s second-ever WNBA regular-season game watched as Clark pounded her head against the opposite stanchion and saw her eyes well up when she reached the bench.
Three days before All-Star Weekend descended upon Indianapolis, it seemed clear there would be no 3-point shootout for Clark and no midseason showcase in front of her home fans.
But her expression betrayed a greater fear than one lost weekend. That reality was confirmed Thursday when Clark announced on social media that after an injury-marred season she would not be returning in 2025, not even if the Fever make the postseason.
“I had hoped to share a better update, but I will not be returning to play this season,” Clark wrote. “I spent hours in the gym every day with the singular goal of getting back out there, disappointed isn’t a big enough word to describe how I am feeling.”
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Clark, not after a historic rookie year that forced the sports world to reimagine the WNBA’s growth trajectory. Her first season broke viewership and attendance records and brought a new set of fans to the country’s longest-running female sports league. Clark set the WNBA’s full-season and single-game assist marks, leading Indiana back to the playoffs for the first time in eight years and revitalizing a languishing franchise.
The Fever had high expectations for Clark’s second season and prepared for greatness. They fired coach Christie Sides and brought in local legend and 2023 Coach of the Year Stephanie White. They traded the No. 8 pick in the 2025 draft and parted ways with young talents like NaLyssa Smith and Grace Berger to bring in veterans on one-year rentals including Sophie Cunningham and Natasha Howard.
Clark made it clear during the preseason, the goal was a championship — not the Commissioner’s Cup title, no matter how gleefully Indiana celebrated the $500,000 purse.
Sitting in eighth place without their star player and with just one week to play in the regular season wasn’t the expectation. If the Fever eke out a postseason berth, a first-round exit is the likeliest outcome without more reinforcements.
But this appeared to be a lost season for Clark long before Thursday’s announcement. She missed a preseason game with a quad injury, her first missed game of any kind as a professional. Indiana sputtered to start the season as the Fever worked in new acquisitions Howard and DeWanna Bonner. Bonner lasted only nine games before requesting a buyout; by then, Clark had suffered her first groin injury, forcing Indiana to look for a hardship point guard.
Even when Clark was on the court, her production didn’t rise to the heights of her first season. She shot 36.7 percent from the field and 27.9 percent on 3s, struggling mightily with her jumper on the road (2 of 35 on road 3s).
The Fever weathered the initial spate of injuries, but then Clark had to sit out again, followed by season-ending injuries to Aari McDonald, Sydney Colson and Cunningham. The hopes of developing chemistry and writing the first chapter of a title run were dashed.
“Any time you have to reinvent yourself throughout the course of the season … it’s challenging,” White said.
A high volume of injuries have plagued the WNBA in 2025. MVP candidates A’ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas missed time earlier in the year, and Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart were out for long stretches in August. Last season’s runner-up in the Rookie of the Year race, Angel Reese, also missed multiple weeks after the All-Star break.
Many of the WNBA’s marquee national television matchups lost their luster due to injury. Clark and Reese faced each other once. Collier and Stewart were never on the court together, and neither were Clark and presumptive Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers. The league may have sustained its viewership growth from last season, but broadcast partners missed out on another Clark-induced spike — and they will again in the postseason.
Clark still traveled around the country, signing autographs for fans and serving as a coaching intern; she even required her technical foul de-escalation crew as she protested officiating from her seat on the bench. Her presence was felt, but it only served to highlight her absence from the court.
In a way, this season’s challenges vindicated Indiana’s offseason approach. Clark’s greatness, and her excellent on-court partnerships with Mitchell and Aliyah Boston, opened the window of championship contention. Those windows don’t stay open in the WNBA for very long. The New York Liberty are experiencing that in real time as injuries hamper their championship repeat bid.
The Fever saw an opportunity, and they went for it. That it didn’t pay off doesn’t invalidate the process.
Clark’s rookie year expanded the realm of possibility for the Fever. She lived up to and seemingly exceeded every expectation in 2024. The sequel couldn’t live up to the hype.
(Photo of Caitlin Clark: Soobum Im/Getty Images)
