INDIANAPOLIS — What should have been a straightforward situation for Caitlin Clark in the Fever became something much bigger over the last week.
On Wednesday, Clark was a late scratch for Indiana’s game against the Fire with a back injury after not appearing on the injury report. In her pregame availability, head coach Stephanie White added to the confusion of Clark’s status and injury, noting that she did not practice the prior day and woke up with back soreness the morning of the game.
Despite that, the team never indicated that she was dealing with a back injury before she was ruled out. The result was a warning from the league for failing to report Clark’s status leading up to the game.
Because the noise is always louder around Clark as well — and because of how the Fever handled the situation — there was also plenty of discussion about whether Clark was actually hurt, if the team was managing her workload and, generally, what was going on.
Clark, herself, cleared the air prior to Friday’s game against the Valkyries in a very impassioned media availability. She detailed her two days leading up to Wednesday’s game and the timeline of events that led to her being ruled out, including her working out on Wednesday in an attempt to play before ultimately deciding to sit out.
“I woke up Wednesday, felt a little sore, texted our training staff, texted my personal physio,” Clark said. “I actually went back and looked – because of all these narratives that are going crazy online – about when I told my mom I wasn’t going to play the game: 4:47 [p.m.]. You guys found out at 5:20 [p.m.].
“So, one of the most important people in my life found out 40 minutes before you guys.”
Clark acknowledged that this wasn’t necessarily a one-off injury and that the back injury could linger as well. In the season opener against the Wings, Clark went to the tunnel during the game multiple times to get her back adjusted.
“I mean, I think at this point maybe I’ll need to be listed as soreness on every injury report,” Clark said a little tongue-in-cheek in regards to the warning the team received. “My back feels good…But I hope it’s not something that hinders me. I think I’m doing everything I can to put myself in the best position I can recovery-wise. I’m continuing to lift. I’m continuing to get massages, hyperbaric [chamber], needling, every single thing I can possibly do after games and put myself in a position to play the next game and I feel really good.
“It’s like I said, a lot of it is a mental challenge as well. Just continuing to trust my body and know I’m good to go as well.”
Both Clark and White were clearly frustrated with the situation in their pregame availabilities. The latter was asked about her response to the team receiving a warning from the league and she gave a terse response.
“My reaction is for what?,” White said.
Asked why that was her reaction, White said it was because the team “did things the right way.”
It was a combative approach from the team in response to a situation and controversy they created. Had Caitlin been on the injury report on Tuesday prior to the game or had it been updated on Wednesday leading up to the game, everything would have blown over as nothing more than a typical injury.
Instead, the Fever’s lack of transparency created questions that didn’t need to exist and narratives, as Clark described them, that were baseless.
The drama of it all also overshadowed some insightful and fascinating responses from Clark on mental health and her personal struggles with trusting her body and returning to the court after an injury-riddled second season. However, because of the necessity to finally get transparency on the matter, that was all pushed to the back burner.
It would be an entirely different conversation if the Fever had offered more transparency by simply updating their injury report appropriately. In not doing so, a molehill became a mountain.
In a league still relatively young and dealing with a star bigger than they’ve ever had before, it was a growing pain and a lesson unnecessarily learned the hard way.