“I had hoped to share a greater replace, however I can’t be returning to play this season,” Clark wrote on X on Thursday. “I spent hours within the health club every single day with the singular aim of getting again on the market, disillusioned is not a large enough phrase to explain how I’m feeling.”
The Fever have been with out Clark since July 15 whereas she rehabbed a groin damage. A report additionally surfaced in August that Clark got hurt again during a workout. The damage was believed to be a bone bruise on her proper ankle, which was confirmed by the workforce on Thursday.
“Caitlin has labored so onerous all through this time, doing every little thing potential to recuperate and return to the court docket however, in the end, time is just not on our aspect,” Fever COO and GM Amber Cox stated in a statement. “Whereas we are going to proceed working with Caitlin and supply her with each useful resource we now have out there, there may be not sufficient time left in our season to securely return, and her long-term well being and well-being stay our high precedence.”
How Caitlin Clark’s absence impacts the Indiana Fever and the WNBA
Clark performed in simply 13 video games this 12 months whereas coping with left quad and left groin accidents, and she or he hadn’t made greater than 5 consecutive appearances this summer season. The guard averaged 16.5 factors, 8.8 assists and 5 rebounds in that restricted time on the court docket.
Clark has grow to be a transcendent star since getting into the WNBA final 12 months after a historic collegiate profession on the College of Iowa. With the Hawkeyes, she turned the college’s all-time main scorer, and in her first 12 months with the Fever, she scored 769 factors — essentially the most for a rookie in WNBA historical past.
With Clark main the cost, the WNBA was poised to interrupt its 2024 ratings records, because the Fever’s 41 of 44 whole video games have been set to be nationally televised this 12 months. Nonetheless, these scores information might be damaged with stars like rookie sensation Paige Bueckers breaking rookie records with the Dallas Wings. Nevertheless, few gamers in girls’s basketball have the identical star energy that Clark instructions.
The Fever are additionally not out of the postseason. The workforce has managed to carry onto eighth place within the standings regardless of the absence of its finest guard. The workforce ought to nonetheless sneak into the playoffs forward of the common season’s conclusion in October. The Fever are nonetheless a succesful workforce and might current a problem within the postseason, however with out Clark, the Fever’s ceiling is way nearer to their flooring.
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