Caitlin Clark is listed as probable for the Indiana Fever's game against the Golden State Valkyries on Friday after she missed Wednesday's 90-73 win over the Portland Fire because of back soreness.
Her status has been a main topic of conversation since she was a late scratch on Wednesday, even though she wasn't on the injury report. Clark didn't practice on Tuesday, receiving treatment on her back instead, though she did do some workouts after practice. Still, Indiana expected her to play against Portland.
Stephanie White said before the win over the Fire that Clark was healthy, and that her sitting out wasn't due to injury management. The coach made it seem like there wasn't anything to worry about, but Indiana's handling of the situation had fans thinking otherwise. It's never a good thing when a team suddenly rules out a player less than two hours before the game starts.
Fever list Caitlin Clark as probable against Valkyries
Fans were counting down to 5 p.m. ET, when Indiana had to submit its injury report for the game against Golden State, wondering what Clark's status would be. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief after seeing the Fever list her as probable, but that doesn't mean that she's out of the woods.
Her back has been bothering her since the start of the season, when she headed back to the tunnel a couple of times in the loss to Dallas for treatment. She wore a heating pad around her back when she was on the bench. After the game, Clark said that her back "gets out of line pretty quickly" and that she left to "get my back put back in place a little bit."
That in itself was concerning, but the fact that she missed the game against Portland with back issues had everyone even more worried after she played a season-low 24 minutes on Sunday against Seattle.
It seemed there might be more to the story than the Fever wanted to share, but it could've come down to them wanting to be extra cautious with Clark, especially after she played in only 13 games last season due to different injuries.
Will Caitlin Clark play against the Valkyries?
As soon as Indiana announces whether Clark will play on Friday, this section will be updated. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ION.
Add us as a preferred source on Google