Caitlin Clark’s second year in the WNBA has been marred by injuries through the early stages, and she appeared to have suffered another injury on Tuesday.
In the final minute of the Indiana Fever’s win over the Connecticut Sun, Clark made an assist on a bounce pass and immediately appeared to be in pain. She was holding the inside of her right leg and walked off the court, clearly frustrated.
Clark previously missed five games because of a groin injury.
Indiana head coach Stephanie White said Clark “felt a little something in her groin” and will be evaluated, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
Clark played 28 minutes in Tuesday’s win, scoring 14 points and picking up eight rebounds and seven assists, though she shot 4-of-14 from the field and 1-of-7 from deep.
Clark returned to action last Wednesday after missing five games. She said ahead of Friday’s game against the Atlanta Dream that she felt “good for the most part” but was still dealing with soreness from her groin injury.
“I feel good for the most part,” Clark said. “I’m sore, but that’s probably the given from here on out just because you know I haven’t played much basketball, it’s been very on-and-off, you’re gonna be sore, that’s just kind of how it’s going to be. And I think I’ve done a great job over 48 hours since our last game ended of just getting treatment, doing everything I can to put my body in position to feel good tonight. And I feel, you know, pretty good, so I’m excited to get back out there.”
Her recent groin injury marked the second time Clark has dealt with an injury this year. She missed a two-week stretch from the end of May to mid-June because of a quad injury.
Clark has played 12 games this season, putting up 16.7 points, 9.0 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per contest. While her numbers have mostly been good, she’s struggled to find her shot this season, shooting 28.9 percent from deep so far.
Indiana is 4-5 without Clark on the floor.
While the extent of Tuesday’s injury is still unclear, the Fever will need players like Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston to continue stepping up. Mitchell is putting up 19.2 points per game this season and had 20 in Tuesday’s win. Boston is averaging 16.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
Indiana improved to 12-10 with Tuesday’s win and the Fever currently sit in sixth place in the WNBA standings.
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