{"id":158052,"date":"2025-09-05T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=158052"},"modified":"2025-09-05T08:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T12:00:47","slug":"caitlin-clarks-season-ending-injury-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/05\/caitlin-clarks-season-ending-injury-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"What Caitlin Clark\u2019s Season-Ending Injury Means for Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Indiana Fever have announced that rookie guard <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/c\/clarkca02w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caitlin Clark<\/a> will miss the remainder of the season with a right groin injury. The 23-year-old has been out of action since mid-July, and there was hope she would return before the end of the season. But the Fever&#8217;s announcement has ended those hopes for Clark, who has struggled with injuries this year and has only appeared in 13 of the Fever&#8217;s 41 games so far.<\/p>\n<h2>What Caitlin Clark\u2019s Season-Ending Injury Means for Fever<\/h2>\n<h3>Clark Can&#8217;t Describe How Disappointed She Is<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_139028\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-139028\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-139028 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) on the court prior to the game against the Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena at College Park\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26142365_168402037_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-139028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">May 10, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) on the court prior to the game against the Atlanta Dream at Gateway Center Arena @ College Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Clark also released a statement to express her disappointment at missing the rest of the season. The former Iowa star was ever-present in four seasons in college and in her first year in the WNBA. Clark, a two-time All-Star and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/25\/caitlin-clarks-wnba-rookie-season\/\" target=\"_self\">2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year winner<\/a>, has averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in her second WNBA season. She suffered a right groin injury during the Fever\u2019s 87-77 win over the Connecticut Sun on July 15 and then suffered a bone bruise during her recovery process.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I had hoped to share a better update, but I will not be returning to play this season. I spent hours in the gym every day with the singular goal of getting back out there, disappointed isn\u2019t a big enough word to describe how I am feeling. I want to thank everyone who had my back\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/paD5sEYG1q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/paD5sEYG1q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CaitlinClark22\/status\/1963759570536333690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>What Clark&#8217;s Injury Means For the Fever<\/h3>\n<p>The Fever have now lost five players to season-ending injuries after Clark joined the list. Fellow guards <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/c\/colsosy01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sydney Colson<\/a> (knee), <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/m\/mcdonaa01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aari McDonald<\/a> (foot), <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/c\/cunniso01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sophie Cunningham<\/a> (knee), and forward <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/b\/bibbych01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chloe Bibby<\/a> (knee) had previously been ruled out, and the team will now have to find a way to cope with Clark&#8217;s absence.<\/p>\n<p><em>Also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/20\/sophie-cunningham-bria-hartley-clash\/\" target=\"_self\">Sophie Cunningham on Bria Hartley Clash that Ended Her Season<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Clark will miss the playoffs. In her absence, Indiana will hope guards <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/m\/mitchke01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/h\/hullle01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lexie Hull<\/a> will continue to step up. The pair have featured in all 41 of the Fever&#8217;s games this season, averaging career-high points so far. Mitchell has especially helped out offensively in Clark&#8217;s absence, averaging 21.2 points and 3.9 assists in 28 games without her. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/b\/bostoal01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aliyah Boston<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/h\/howarna01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Natasha Howard<\/a> are also consistent players who can play key roles until the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>The Fever currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot at 21-20. Three games are remaining, but Indiana sits just 1 1\u20442 games ahead of the ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks, who own the tiebreaker between the two teams. With less than two weeks until the playoffs begin, chief operating officer and general manager Amber Cox said the Fever will continue to work with Clark to help her return to full fitness soon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Featured image: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Indiana Fever have announced that rookie guard Caitlin Clark will miss the remainder of the season with a right groin injury. The 23-year-old has been out of action since mid-July, and there was hope she would return before the end of the season. But the Fever&#8217;s announcement has ended those hopes for Clark, who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5425,"featured_media":158065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,49709],"tags":[49788,49063,50073,3860,50158],"class_list":["post-158052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-wnba","tag-aaliyah-boston","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-kelsey-mitchell","tag-natasha-howard","tag-sophie-cunningham"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158052"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158066,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158052\/revisions\/158066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}