The WNBA‘s biggest rising star is going to be stuck on the sidelines for a couple of weeks. But her coach is looking n the bright side of things.
On Monday, the Indiana Fever announced that reigning Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark “suffered a left quadriceps strain and will be out a minimum of two weeks.”
Fever coach Stephanie White is looking on the bright side. Yes, the team will be without their leading scorer and a reigning All-WNBA talent. However, White argued that playing without Clark will allow the Fever to take advantage of their depth and grow as a team.
“It’s a great opportunity for our team to find an identity. It’s a great opportunity for our team to play in a different way,” White said to reporters Monday.
“But I also think it’s a great opportunity for Caitlin to watch the game from the sidelines,” White added. “To grow and almost like a coaching kind of mindset, and see some different things that we might be talking about on film, addressing in practice, to see it develop in live action.”
The injury snaps an astounding streak of durability for Clark, who has not missed a single game due to injury since her sophomore year of high school in 2017.
It’s a major blow to the Fever, who are 2-2 so far this season. Clark is averaging 19.0 points per game, the eighth-most in the WNBA. She’s also the league’s assists leader at 9.3 per game.
The No. 1 pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft, Clark has been a lightning rod for media attention and the poster child of the changing tides for women’s sports toward the mainstream.
Now, for the first time since entering the national spotlight, she’ll be stuck on the sidelines.
