Caitlin Clark will miss her seventh game of the season Friday night as the Indiana Fever ruled their star guard out with a left groin injury again.
Indiana initially added Clark to the injury report Thursday morning, ahead of its 85-75 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks.
“I think it’s very much a day-to-day thing, how she responds to treatment,” coach Stephanie White said Thursday.
White did not share specifics on the severity of the injury, deferring a question on the topic to Indiana’s training staff. However, she said she only learned of the injury on Wednesday night and that Clark had undergone an MRI.
The Fever (7-8) superstar returned to play on June 14 after missing three weeks with a left quad strain. Clark also missed one of Indiana’s preseason games with a left quad injury, although the team said her regular-season injury was not an aggravation of her prior injury. She never previously missed regular-season or postseason games in college or the WNBA.
Clark starred in her initial return to action, scoring 32 points and recording nine assists and eight rebounds against the New York Liberty. While she scored 20 points three days later against the Connecticut Sun, her shooting splits have suffered as Indiana went on a three-game road trip.
Clark has missed all of her 3-point attempts in two of the Fever’s last four games and has made only one of her last 23 3-pointers. She recorded 22 turnovers on Indiana’s West Coast trip, and her six-point performance in the Fever’s 8-point win over the Seattle Storm on Tuesday was a season low. Thursday’s game marked Indiana’s first home game since June 17 and its lone home game until July 3.
The Fever will play the Wings in Dallas on Friday night. The matchup — the second of back-to-back games for Indiana — will take place in American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, instead of the Wings’ smaller capacity stadium at the University of Texas at Arlington. According to the Wings, the game is a sellout.
Following Friday’s contest, Indiana will play the Minnesota Lynx in the Commissioner’s Cup championship next Tuesday.
Upon Clark’s return to play a few weeks ago, she was adamant about not wanting a minutes restriction and said she didn’t want to play unless she was 100 percent healthy.
During her time off, Clark said she used red-light therapy and needling, lifted to strengthen her muscles and recovered in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
“With the schedule that we have coming up, that’s going to be super important,” she said of her recovery nearly two weeks ago.
On the year, Clark is averaging 18.2 points, 8.9 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. Her absence comes after Indiana signed guard Aari McDonald on Wednesday to a rest-of-season contract after McDonald previously joined the team on an injury hardship deal when both Clark and wing Sophie Cunningham were out with prior injuries. In a corresponding move, the Fever waived DeWanna Bonner after they couldn’t find a trade partner for Bonner.
Indiana only has nine players available for Friday night’s game against the Sparks. Fever reserve center Damiris Dantas is set to play for the Brazilian national team at the AmeriCup, which begins Saturday, and has had her contract temporarily suspended as a result.
Tipoff for Friday’s game in Dallas is at 7:30 p.m. ET.
(Photo: Lucas Peltier / Imagn Images)