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Caitlin Clark not happy with late-game officiating (0:44)
Caitlin Clark lets the officials hear it during the late-game sequence in the Fever's win over the Sparks. (0:44)
Kendra AndrewsSep 2, 2025, 05:25 PM ET
With only a week left in the regular season, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is still not cleared for contact drills during practice sessions, but the second-year guard did participate in full-court, 5-on-0 work during shootaround in Phoenix on Tuesday morning.
Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters that Clark had been limited to shooting drills and individual work.
Clark, the 2024 Rookie of the Year, has been sidelined since June 15 with a right groin injury. Tuesday's game against the Phoenix Mercury will be the 19th consecutive game she has missed. She's been limited to playing in just 13 games this season as she has dealt with several injuries to her left quad, left groin and right groin.
On Aug. 7, she suffered a bone bruise to her left ankle. A team spokesperson told ESPN that it's "impossible to say" if Clark's timeline to return to play was impacted by the bone bruise because there was never a projected return date to begin with.
However, on Tuesday, when asked if Clark will return before the end of the regular season, White said, "That's the hope. She's working as hard as she can to make sure that she is coming back or is capable of coming back. I think that the long-term viewpoint of her health and wellness is the most important thing."
This echoed what White said last week.
White has said she needs Clark to participate in multiple practices before she is cleared to play in games, and then clarified that because they are under limited time, these practices could include just 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 work. Because the on-court work Clark did on Tuesday was non-contact, it doesn't seem likely that this counted toward the number of practice sessions she needs to return to game action.
After Tuesday's game in Phoenix, the Fever have just three games left in their regular-season slate: hosting the Chicago Sky on Friday, visiting the Washington Mystics on Sunday and hosting the Minnesota Lynx on Sept. 9.
Indiana currently sits seventh in the standings, ahead of the Seattle Storm in eighth and a half-game behind the Golden State Valkyries in sixth.
