Caitlin Clark may or may not return to the floor for the Fever this season, and at this point, that's a reality that many fans can and have made peace with. The 23-year-old has been plague with injury after injury all season; first, she missed a preseason game due to left quadriceps tightness, then missed several games when she injured that same quad. Those injuries were followed by nearly back-to-back groin injuries, first on the left, then the right.
If there are two silver linings to Clark's injuries this season, it's that other members of the Fever (and even other athletes in the league) have been able to grab onto the enormous attention she receives and get a little of their own. The second is that not being on the floor shifted the Clark-Reese rivalry discourse once and for all, and there's been very little chatter to that effect for most of the season.
And that's a really good thing, because Clark's true rival in the league is the same player who she's been compared to since their freshman years at Iowa and UConn: Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers, who was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick by the Wings in this year's draft, is having a heck of a rookie season with Dallas. She scored a massive 44 points for the team in their recent match against the Sparks — the most of any player in the WNBA this season — and did so while shooting 80% from the field.
Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers go way, way back
Clark and Bueckers have always been friendly foes on the hardwood, and the 2025 season was set to offer a glimpse into a dynamic that we can all hope to see for years to come. Though Clark has been out for much of it, that simply means that next season — barring injuries for either — WNBA fans will finally have a front row seat to what a true rivalry in the league can look like.
As media personality and analyst Dan Patrick said on his August 21 show, "Paige Bueckers was Caitlin Clark before Caitlin Clark." Though Bueckers' game hasn't been as flashy as Clark's over the years (there is something pretty special about that logo 3), she's been able to go toe-to-toe (and often blown straight past) with Clark for years — something we can only expect to see more as both athletes continue to train and grow.