The Golden State Valkyries – and followers at Chase Heart — will possible see Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark subsequent week, in spite of everything.
Barring any unexpected setbacks, Clark, who has missed the final 5 Indiana video games with a quadriceps harm, is anticipated to be within the lineup Saturday when the Fever host the reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty.
“As long as we don’t have any regressions, she’s going to be ready to roll,” Fever coach Stephanie White stated Friday.
Clark returned to apply this week, and her comeback recreation simply occurs to be a nationally televised one in opposition to the Liberty (9-0), the final unbeaten crew left within the league this season. New York is profitable its video games by a median of 19 factors.
“I’m really excited,” Clark stated. “I think it’s definitely been a process. I think the hardest part is when you like begin to feel really good and then it’s just a process of working yourself back into actually getting up and down and getting out there with my teammates.”
Clark, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Yr, hasn’t performed since Could 24, and the Fever introduced three days later that they might be with out the standout guard for at the very least two weeks as she handled a strained left quad.
That seemingly put Clark’s availability for the Fever’s recreation in San Francisco in opposition to the Valkyries on June 19 in query. A sellout or near-sellout crowd is anticipated for the sport, which will even see Clark face her former Iowa Hawkeyes teammate Kate Martin, who’s averaging 6.4 factors in eight video games this season for Golden State.
The enlargement Valkyries (4-5) enter their dwelling recreation in opposition to the Seattle Storm on Saturday in eighth place within the 13-team WNBA. Golden State is coming off an 89-81 street win over Los Angeles on Monday.
The Fever (4-5) went 2-3 in Clark’s absence. She was averaging 19 factors, 9.3 assists, six rebounds and 1.3 steals per recreation when she bought damage.
There’s nonetheless a protracted option to go this season, however no participant in WNBA historical past has ever completed a season averaging that many factors, assists, rebounds, and steals per recreation.
Clark freely acknowledges that she’s not a affected person individual, however she understood the method and why it was important to not skip any steps in her restoration. Among the many remedies: “anything under the sun,” she stated, together with all the pieces from therapeutic massage to weights to hyperbaric remedy.
“It was certainly a learning opportunity, and I think it’s going to benefit me a lot throughout my career, just falling back and understanding certain moments like this,” Clark stated. “But I’m super, super excited. I’m antsy to get out there and probably shake off a little bit of rust and then play.”
