Why Caitlin Clark struggled in return from back injury suffered two weeks ago

LOS ANGELES — Usually, Caitlin Clark isn’t a fan of minutes restrictions.

The Indiana Fever guard declared them “silly” in her return from a five-game layoff because of a quad injury on June 14, 2025, saying: “I told them, ‘I don’t want to come back unless I’m 100% full go.’ Why would I be out there to play 20 minutes? I’m out there to win and give everything I have to this team.”

But now, a year and a lot of injury recovery later, it’s what she needs to do to ease back into full game shape in a healthy way.

Clark was limited to just 13 games last season because of a bevy of injuries, including her left quad, left groin, right groin, and ankle. This year, she’s been working through back issues all season, which first forced her to miss the Fever’s May 20 game against Portland. For most games since then, she has been listed as probable (back).

She left the Fever‘s game against Phoenix on June 24 in the third quarter, then missed Indiana’s June 27 game against Los Angeles and July 5 game against Las Vegas. The Fever’s unique schedule, which included eight straight days off, made it so she only missed two games before her return on Wednesday night.

“Especially when you haven’t played for two, two and a half weeks, a game environment is just so much different than anything we can replicate,” Clark told IndyStar and ESPN following the Fever’s 106-92 loss to Los Angeles on Wednesday. “Even though my workouts have been hard and I’ve responded well to those, you just don’t know when you get into a game environment … Obviously, I’m such a competitor, I think I can play more, but that can sometimes get you in trouble. It’s a long season, it’s a long year, and a couple games like this isn’t gonna mess you up. Just get your feel back, and it’ll be OK overall.”

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Clark did not look like her usual self on Wednesday, playing in 2-3 minute spurts as a condition of her minutes restriction — something she said, when asked about that setup, “was not my decision. That was somebody else’s decision.”

“Anytime you’ve missed a couple weeks, it’s going to take time to get acclimated,” Fever coach Stephanie White said when asked what she thought of Clark’s performance. “It’s going to take time to build endurance … It’s just a tough scenario when you’re on a minutes restriction and you’re trying to get back into rhythm throughout the course of the season. She’s going to continue to get better, and we’re going to continue to get better as we get her working back in.”

Clark could never truly get into a rhythm because of those seemingly constant subs. She made sure her body stayed warm the entire time, using the exercise bike in her periods off the court and wearing a heat therapy pad on her back, but with the amount of time she spent off the court, she couldn’t ever get a true feel on how it was playing.

She finished with nine points on 4-of-12 shooting (1-of-6 from 3-point range), along with four rebounds and three assists. Those nine points are her second-lowest point total of the season so far (6 at Portland on May 30).

“It’s just really hard when you’re playing three minutes, (sub) out, three minutes, three minutes, then you’re on the bench,” Clark said. “It’s really, really hard to get into a flow. For the most part, I got good looks, some of them went, some of them didn’t. I probably didn’t get to have a feel for the game as I usually do, like it’s just really, really hard for me to play in that scenario, but overall, my body feels great, so that’s the positive I can take from today.”

Making sure Clark felt good was the most important thing for the Fever — the last thing they want is for her to suffer cascading injuries similar to what happened in 2025. Her back injury has been affecting other parts of her body, she said Wednesday night, including her pelvis, sacrum, and legs, so the Fever medical staff are being as cautious as possible.

But if one positive came out of Wednesday night, Clark said, she felt good in every one of the 16 minutes she played. 

“I told our trainers after the game that it stinks we didn’t win, and we didn’t play very well, but I’ll take it as a win how my body feels and how I really felt out there,” Clark said. “I didn’t even feel very winded.”

Clark will not play against Phoenix on Thursday in the second game of the Fever’s back-to-back as part of her return-to-play regimen. She did say, however, that she hopes her minutes limit can get up to 25 when the Fever play the Aces in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.