Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark is healthy and back on the hardwood with Team USA

Clark only played in 13 games for the Fever during the 2025 season. She dealt with a groin injury that she suffered in a win over the Connecticut Sun on July 15, then tweaked her left ankle and was diagnosed with a bone bruise after a workout in Phoenix in early August.

When asked in August if the ankle injury would impact Clark’s ability to return from her groin issue, a Fever spokesperson told The IX Basketball, “There was no timeline or projected return to play, so it’s impossible to say if it was impacted. So it remains the same: to give Caitlin as much time needed to ensure she comes back fully healthy, which everyday she is working hard to do.”

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Clark intended to play again during the 2025 season — which ended with the Fever just five minutes from a trip to the WNBA Finals — but the recovery process was too long. She was ruled out for the season in early September.

“My ankle kind of didn’t allow me to really see where my groin was at. It was, I think, my second full-court workout back when we were in Phoenix, but I just went to make a move and unfortunately my ankle completely rolled all the way forward in probably one of the worst sprains I’ve dealt with,” Clark explained during her exit interview in October. She added that her expected return to five-on-five play was going to be with Team USA.

That proved to be correct as Clark hit the hardwood this week. Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and head coach Stephanie White are involved with the national team as well.

“It feels nice to finally be back to 100%,” Clark told reporters on Friday. “I did everything I could to try to be able to come back and be able to play for my team. But it just didn’t really work.”

Clark was named a WNBA All-Star last season and was playing at a high level despite battling injuries even during some of the games she played. She averaged 16.5 points and 8.8 assists per game for the Fever, who went 8-5 when Clark was available. That win rate would equate to a 27-win season and could have put Indiana in position to host a first-round playoff series.

Instead, the Fever started on the road against the Atlanta Dream. They were undeterred, however, and defeated Atlanta before taking the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces to overtime in Game 5 of the semifinals at Michelob Ultra Arena. It’s easy to wonder what could have been possible had Clark been healthy.

“I gave everything I could to possibly try to play, but my body just wasn’t really letting me. And then I continued to rehab and now feeling back at 100%. Honestly, [it] took probably longer than I expected,” Clark said. “My body’s in a really good spot.”

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Clark went on to detail the new perspective she has after her first significant injury. Her view on leadership and understanding what other injured teammates are going through has changed. She hopes to check in on her banged-up teammates more often in the future with text messages and kind notes. Beyond her own health, that’s Clark’s biggest takeaway from everything that happened in her 2025 season.

As for playing basketball? Clark did her thing for the first time in nearly six months. “I felt like I was moving really well,” she said. “So it was pretty satisfying.”

“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!

Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.

Buy it now!