NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
Caitlin Clark had a shaky return to WNBA action Saturday following her season-ending injury last year.
Clark, in his first preseason game for the Indiana Fever, made just two of his 10 field goal attempts in Saturday’s preseason game against the New York Liberty. However, she hit a three-pointer, made two free throws and had three rebounds with four assists. She played only 17 minutes.
Clark suffered a season-ending injury to her right groin last July, aggravated by a bone bruise on her left ankle sustained during a practice in August.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
Caitlyn Clark of the Indiana Fever looks on as the game is about to start against the New York Liberty at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on April 25, 2026. (Michelle Farsi/Getty Images)
“It’s not like I hurt my knee or tore my Achilles or anything like that, knock on wood,” Clark said, according to reporter Tony East in March. “It was the kind of nagging injury that would build and build and deal with one on top of the other.
“I think that … played with my mind even more than knowing I was going to be out for a certain period of time. I was always trying to come back and always trying to come back and then I would get hurt in some other way.”
Before Saturday, Clark also competed for USA Basketball in the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament in March.
The Fever and the WNBA as a whole are counting on Clark in 2026 for a big year. The Fever have championship hopes after falling just one game short in the WNBA Finals last year with Clark injured. Meanwhile, the WNBA will lean on Clark to keep the league growing in relevance and popularity after it agreed to pay its players much higher wages in a new collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union in March.
As the league’s most popular player, the WNBA has a lot to gain from Clark staying healthy and playing well.
FEBERS LOSS TO SPARKS TRIGGERS MORE FLASHBACK AGAINST ESPN ANALYST FOR CONTROVERSIAL CAITLIN CLARK TAKE
Team USA’s Caitlin Clark reacts during the Women’s World Cup 2026 qualifier against Puerto Rico at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan on March 12, 2026. (Alexa Alejandro/FIBA)
Clark was involved in 20 of the 23 WNBA games that drew more than 1 million viewers in 2024. But in 2025, national television ratings for the WNBA saw a significant 55% drop during a two-week period when Caitlin Clark was sidelined with a quad injury, according to Nielsen ratings.
Clark’s Fever teammate Lexie Hull previously told Pakinomist Digital that she noticed a difference in how opposing players began to perform against her team that year, which she attributes to the rising popularity.
“Because of the fans that we’ve gotten since 2024, with the increase in, I think the popularity with the Indiana Fever is like a name that people know. … And there’s a million Fever jerseys and Fever jerseys. I think as an opposing team, you want to win even more because you feel like there’s so many people,” Hull said.
“It’s exciting to have that type of following across the country, and I think just like any other team, they have great fans and great people that show up for them, and they want to perform for those people, just like we want to perform for ours.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever sits on the bench after being taken off with a possible injury in the second half against the Connecticut Sun at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on July 15, 2025. (Brian Fluharty/Getty Images)
When asked if she thinks games have become more physical as a result, Hull said: “I think just the game itself is physical. I don’t know if it’s become more physical. I think social media amplifies a lot of that.
“I think people want to win. I think people just want to win… [The games] are all physical. … They all get cut at times. Calls are made, calls are not made. It’s just part of the game.”
