Caitlin Clark Aug 1, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) during the game between the Dallas Wings and the Indiana Fever at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Unfortunately, Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark had about as frustrating a 2025 season as imaginable. After winning Rookie of the Year in her first season as a professional, Clak’s second year in the WNBA was marred by lower-body injuries.

Luckily, Clark is fully healthy now and appears to be back to her pre-injury form. She competed in an official capacity for the first time since last season’s injuries in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March for the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament, which served asd her debut for the senior U.S. national team.

Clark led her country to a 5-0 record and took home the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

Fever head coach Stephanie White was on the staff in San Juan, and she believes her star guard is back to her normal self, but shockingly, she’s staying cautious with getting Clark back to full game speed.

“She has worked her butt off this whole offseason to prepare herself,” White said on Thursday on the Query & Company podcast. “We have an added advantage in that she played games in March with USA basketball. And so she has game exposure.

“She has game pace. She has game rhythm. She has game timing. And so we have an advantage.”

“But we also want to be smart,” White continued. “She doesn’t need every rep in practice. We want to continue to ramp her up.

“It’s a long season. 44 games and we play a heavy cadence of games in a week.

“And so we want to be smart in camp and make sure we — I don’t want to say either into it because she’s ready for camp — but we want to make sure that we manage the reps and what kinds of reps she’s getting just to build her up so that she’s ready to go, and we don’t have any kind of questions about that.”

White, Clark, and the Fever open the season on May 9 against the Dallas Wings.

About Qwame Skinner

Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.