WNBA: Caitlin Clark nearing return for lukewarm Indiana Fever

On some days, the Indiana Fever have looked like world-beaters. On others, they’ve looked painfully average—or worse.

The Fever’s loss to the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday would probably fall into the latter group. Indiana’s normally potent offense came to a screeching halt, mustering a season-low 58 points on 36.2 percent shooting from the field (20.8 percent on 3-pointers), and while the Dream didn’t shoot the ball much better, they did outperform the Fever significantly in the paint and on the boards.

“I think they hit us in the mouth,” said Fever head coach Stephanie White, who attributed her team’s 44-27 rebounding disparity to poor point-of-attack defense. “We didn’t do a good job of guarding our yard or being in rotation … when we’re in rotation off of straight line drives, a lot of [the Dream] are roaming free.”

White went on to bemoan the Fever’s “tunnel vision” on offense, while center Aliyah Boston, whose seven points were well below her season scoring average, pointed to a lack of physicality and reluctance to play through contact as the problem.

Whatever the main issue is, it’s obvious that the Fever need to improve if they’re going to become the championship-caliber team that many expect them to. Indiana is now 4-5, treading water in the middle of the WNBA standings despite facing a relatively soft spot in its regular-season schedule. The Fever were once again dominant against the Chicago Sky (2-5) last weekend, but losses to the Washington Mystics (3-3) and Connecticut Sun (1-5), don’t look very good on the team’s resume; one might call that stretch of games a missed opportunity, even without Caitlin Clark in the lineup.

The good news for the Fever is that Clark seems to be nearing a return. The star guard has been out since May 26 with a quad injury, and it was initially estimated that she’d miss two weeks. When asked, White was hesitant to give a clear answer as to when Clark would be back on the court, stressing the importance of “playing the long game;” it helps, however, that the Fever are off until Saturday, giving Clark ample time to ramp up.

If Clark is still unable to play on Saturday’s game—a rematch against the New York Liberty (9-0), who narrowly defeated the Fever back on May 24—Indiana will continue to rely on its other two All-Stars, Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. Since Clark got injured, Mitchell’s production has remained roughly the same, averaging 15.8 points per game in those five games and winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors for June 2-8.

Boston, on the other hand, has seen her role change. Though she’s shooting a league-leading 63.2 percent from the field and 66.7 percent since Clark got injured, Boston has had a difficult time finding ways to cash in on that efficiency. She’s led Indiana in assists per game (5.2) without Clark, functioning as the team’s offensive hub, but she’s also attempting just 7.2 field goals per game during that span—something that opposing defenses are likely thrilled with.

Granted, absences of star players typically force teams to make some pretty big adjustments, and Indiana is no exception. This isn’t the version of the Fever that will be making a playoff run come September, and there are only so many conclusions besides the obvious that can be drawn from games that Clark doesn’t play in. Even when she returns, though, the Fever will still need to work on the defense and rebounding that has let them down a few too many times early in 2025; they’ll have a hard time competing against the giants of the WNBA otherwise.