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Caitlin Clark had a shaky return to the WNBA on Saturday following her season-ending injury last year.
Clark, in his first preseason game for the Indiana Fever, made just two of his 10 field goal attempts in Saturday’s preseason game against the New York Liberty. However, she made a three-pointer, made two free throws and had three rebounds and four assists. She only played 17 minutes.
Clark suffered a season-ending injury to his right groin last July, aggravated by a bone bruise in his left ankle suffered during a practice session in August.
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Caitlyn Clark of the Indiana Fever watches the game about to start against the New York Liberty at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 25, 2026. (Michelle Farsi/Getty Images)
“It’s not like I hurt my knee or tore my Achilles tendon or anything like that, knock on wood,” Clark said, according to reporter Tony East in March. “It was these kinds of nagging wounds that just built up and built up and piled on top of each other.
“I think… that played with my mind even more than knowing that I would be out for a set period of time. I was always trying to come back and I was always trying to come back, and then I would be hurt in some other way.”
Before Saturday, Clark also competed for USA Basketball in the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in March.
The Fever and the WNBA as a whole are depending on Clark in 2026 for a big year. The Fever have championship aspirations after falling just one game short of the WNBA Finals last year with Clark injured. Meanwhile, the WNBA will rely on Clark to keep the league growing in relevance and popularity after agreeing to pay its players much higher salaries through a new collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union in March.
As the most popular player in the league, the WNBA has a lot to gain if Clark stays healthy and plays well.
FEVER LOSS TO SPARKS TRIGGERS MORE COUNTERPLAY AGAINST ESPN ANALYST FOR CONTROVERSIAL CAITLIN CLARK TAKE
Caitlin Clark of Team USA reacts during 2026 Women’s World Cup qualifying against Puerto Rico at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan on March 12, 2026. (Alexa Alejandro/FIBA)
Clark appeared in 20 of 23 WNBA games that drew more than 1 million viewers in 2024. But in 2025, national television viewership for the WNBA saw a significant 55% decline during a two-week period when Caitlin Clark was sidelined with a quad injury, according to Nielsen ratings.
Clark’s Fever teammate Lexie Hull previously told PK Press Club Digital that she noticed a difference in the way opposing players began to perform against her team that year, which she attributes to the rise in popularity.
“Because of the fans that we’ve had since 2024, with the increase in popularity, I think, with the Indiana Fever being like a name that people know. … And there’s a million jerseys and Fever jerseys. I think as the opposing team, you’d want to win even more because you feel like there’s so many people rooting for it,” Hull said.
“It’s exciting to have that type of crowd across the country, and I think like other teams, they have great fans and great people that show up for them, and they want to play for those people, just like we want to play for ours.”
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever sits on the bench after being scratched due to a possible injury during the second half against the Connecticut Sun at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on July 15, 2025. (Brian Fluharty/Getty Images)
Asked if she thinks games have become more physical, Hull said: “I think the game itself is physical. I don’t know if it’s become more physical. I think social media amplifies that a lot.
“I think people want to win. I think people just want to win. … [The games] are all physical. …They all get agitated at times. Calls are made, calls are not made. It’s just part of the game.”
