INDIANAPOLIS — Even though she wasn’t playing, Caitlin Clark made sure that her voice was heard in the Fever’s preseason opener against Washington on Saturday afternoon.
Clark, who was ruled out with a left leg injury, was a constant presence in the Fever’s huddles and on the sideline. She provided a unique perspective to the game, and even took some time to jaw with the refs when she disagreed with some calls.
She was still itching to play, Fever coach Stephanie White said.
‘When you’re not playing, it gives you a different perspective,’ White said. ‘And I felt like she did a really good job of that with her teammates. She did a really good job with that with us in the coaching staff, just different things that she’s seeing, you know, different pointers for us in terms of maybe even communication style. I thought she was, she was really engaged. And I felt like at one point she wanted to go back and put her uniform on and come out and play.’
Clark’s leg injury likely isn’t serious; she described it as a ‘little bit of tightness’ ahead of the game and went through warmups as normal with no visible brace on her leg. White said pregame that they were erring on the side of caution with Clark, prioritizing her long-term health over the short term of playing in the preseason.
It was especially important on a back to back. The Fever are heading to Iowa City, Iowa, to play the Brazilian National Team at Clark’s alma mater, the University of Iowa, on Sunday. And White hopes that Clark can be good to go in front of her hometown fans.
‘She had a lot of progress in the last 24 hours, and that was our goal,’ White said. ‘Our goal is to see how she progresses every day, so we’ll see what happens and see how she feels after the workouts that she went through today, and then hopefully she’ll be ready tomorrow.’
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