Caitlin Clark OUT vs. Las Vegas as Indiana Fever provide injury update

Caitlin Clark entered the 2025 WNBA season with a lot of pressure on her shoulders. Of course, her name alone brings eyes to everything she touches — her team, the WNBA, women’s basketball as a whole. After a rookie season of record-breaking and the levelling up the Indiana did in the offseason, Clark’s Indiana Fever were expected to soar this season.

Instead, they’ve sputtered, and Clark’s repetitive injuries have been the source of frustration. It’s the fault of no one, especially not Clark, as injuries are an inevitable and unfortunate aspect of sports. Yet, the nature of the specific injuries Clark has had this year has meant there is no definite path for quick recovery.

That was the reminder provided by the Fever’s Thursday update on Clark, who was again ruled OUT for the team’s game against the Las Vegas Aces. The team announced that Clark had undergone further evaluation after she seemed to re-aggravate her groin injury last week and sat out of the team’s final game before the All-Star Break.

No additional damage or injury was found, which is good news.

The “bad” news is that this makes recovery timelines murky. There’s nothing they can do except treat her pain and have her rest until she feels better. The Fever said just that, that Clark will continue her recovery with the team’s medical staff, with no timeline available for when she could re-enter the lineup.

Indiana also said that no further details will be released, and that updates will now be made as necessary. Basically, they said “stop asking about it.” They will likely only update now when Clark moves from rehabbing to conditioning and preparing to rejoin the team on the court. It could be days, weeks, or longer, as groin injuries are notoriously nagging and unpredictable.

What does this mean for the Indiana Fever? Well, as of Thursday morning, the team is in 7th place in the WNBA standings with a record of 12-12. They head into a very important game against the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday night, the results of which will likely have implications for the team’s final spot in the standings.

The Aces sit just half a game ahead of the Fever currently, and the two teams have had razor-thin margins between them all season. Whoever wins this game will have a one-game edge over the other, which could be huge when it comes to end-of-season standings. With both teams on that bubble of making the playoffs, having one game come between making the playoffs or not would be crushing.

Regardless of all these implications, thoughts continue to go back to Clark. It’s not normal to have the amount of pressure she has on her shoulders. People travel long distances and pay lots of money just to see her play, meaning that when she’s hurt, sometimes fans can overreact and be mean. The hope would be that neither Clark, as the competitor she is, nor the Fever, worried about these monetary implications, would try to rush her back onto the court before she is healed. Her long-term health is most important, and despite the pressure she may feel to please paying fans, to help her team win, and live up to the expectations placed on her, she needs to sit out as long as she needs to.

Athletes often say the mental aspect of injuries is worse than the physical pain they endure, and it wouldn’t be shocking if that was especially true for Clark. While rational observers understand that the WNBA will survive while she rests, many are outspoken (and, again, mean) about their belief in the opposite. As much as she is idolized, Clark’s injury struggles this year prove what people often forget — that she is a human being and not invincible. Hopefully, she gives herself the grace to remember that as well, and knows that she doesn’t need to rush back to prove otherwise.