INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark is coming into her third Indiana Fever training camp with a new perspective.
After a 2025 season filled with injuries and setbacks, the Fever star is now 100% healthy going into 2026. It’s a far cry from 2025 training camp, when she came into the season with a quad issue that eventually ballooned into multiple other injuries.
“I feel great,” Clark said Sunday, the first day of training camp. “Super excited to be back here. I think I have a great perspective on camp and not taking anything for granted. Obviously, this time last year I was going through some things. More than anything, I’m just really excited, I feel really healthy, and feel like I’ve put myself in a position to be as healthy as I can be to start the season.”
Clark only played 13 games because of various injuries in 2025, including two left quad injuries, a left groin injury, a right groin injury and an ankle sprain. Most of those injuries came in the form of setbacks — the ankle sprain came when she was rehabbing her groin injury, and it ultimately prevented her from adequately testing her groin to see if she could return to the court.
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Because of all those injuries, Clark hasn’t played in a WNBA game since July 15 against the Connecticut Sun in Boston. In those 13 games, Clark averaged 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.8 assists, and was named an All-Star starter for the second straight season.
She spent a lot of time away from the court truly rehabbing her body, using hyperbaric chambers, red light therapy, massage therapy and dry needling to get back to a playing form. She first returned to the court with 3-on-3, working one step at a time until she got back up to 5-on-5.
She was ready to play again in December at USA Basketball training camp in North Carolina, then participated in another camp with Team USA in March in Miami before heading to the FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico.
Those five games in Puerto Rico were her first game action in over eight months. And it looked like she had never left the court. She finished her first game against Senegal with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, played about 20 minutes per game, and was named MVP of the tournament as Team USA went 5-0.
“We were fortunate that Caitlin was able to get some gameplay, and very casually got back on the court and won the MVP at the qualifier,” Fever GM Amber Cox told IndyStar on the “Fever Insider” podcast. “So happy for her. She’s looked great. She’s worked incredibly hard to be in a good spot from the first day of training camp.”
Still, coming into this season, Clark doesn’t want to take any chances. The Fever’s athletic training staff developed a personalized warmup for her, allowing her to activate muscles ahead of the grueling training camp practices. At 24, she joked, she’s past her younger days of feeling the need to participate in every rep or overdo anything in the Fever’s daily three-hour training sessions during camp.
“Whether I’m in every single rep or I’m sitting a rep out, being on the sidelines, helping them the best I can, it’s not been a direct conversation of, like, this is what you can do or can do,” Clark said. “I’m 100% cleared. I’m 100% go … it’s just being smart like you don’t need to overdo it at this point. I think when I’m not in every single rep, I think it’s a great leadership opportunity.”
So far, Clark doesn’t have any specific goals for herself this Fever season. After all, she said, she’s only played about 60 WNBA games throughout her two seasons so far.
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Fever coach Stephanie White’s goals for Clark come more on the mental side of things. Especially after such a difficult year in 2025.
“I just want to see her play with joy,” White said. “You know, it was such a hard year a year ago, when you’re going through injury, it’s tough when you’re in and out, it’s tough when you’re not able to do what you love. It’s tough. I want to see her play with joy. I want to see her enjoy the opportunity that we have and this team that we have.”
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.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: After year of injuries, healthy Caitlin Clark enters Fever season ‘not taking anything for granted’
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
