Caitlin Clark showed she’s ‘one of the most dynamic playmakers in the world’ in return from injury
If anything could test Caitlin Clark’s conditioning after an eight-month injury layoff, it was a tournament that required five games in seven days.
The Indiana Fever star long anticipated the FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which ran from March 11-17. It fulfilled a lifelong goal of making her debut on the USA Basketball senior national team, along with being her first game action since July 2025.
“I feel like I put myself in the best possible shape that I could be in at this point,” Clark said in San Juan ahead of the tournament. “Sometimes almost the first game is the hardest, but once you get in kind of the flow of things, and you figure things out, and you kind of get your wind back, you’re in a little bit better of a position.”
Various injuries, including to her quad, left groin, right groin, and ankle, careened her sophomore season with the Indiana Fever off the track. She only ended up playing 13 games for the Fever in 2025 because of those injuries, which compounded one after another just as she was starting to get healthy again.
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Clark finally became “100% healthy” in December 2025, making her debut at a senior national team training camp in North Carolina.
But that camp wasn’t game action. Nothing could replace that.
“She looks good,” Fever coach Stephanie White, an assistant on Team USA, told IndyStar ahead of the tournament. “I mean, it’s hard to simulate a real game. Whether she’s playing pickup, or getting guys together to play against her, whatever, it’s hard to simulate a real game, but she looks much more comfortable. Her movement patterns look natural. She’s been in the gym, she’s been working her tail off, she’s had the time to recover, I think there’s gonna be this excitement for her to just get out there.”
In those five games, Clark shined.
Clark had a double-double in her USA Basketball debut, logging 17 points and 12 assists over 20 minutes against Senegal on March 11. Then she had eight points, two assists and three rebounds against Puerto Rico in the second day of a back-to-back.
“I was really just excited,” Clark said on March 11. “I’ve been preparing for this for a really long time, and was sick of just sitting on the bench cheering everybody else on.”
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Her sole start of the tournament came March 15 against New Zealand, the second day of another back-to-back. She scored 14 points with six assists against New Zealand, just one day after 12 points and five assists against Italy. She finished the tournament March 17 with seven points and seven assists against Spain.
For the tournament, she averaged 11.6 points and 6.2 assists. She was even named MVP after leading the U.S. in points (58), assists (32) and minutes (105:56). Most importantly, though, she came out of the tournament healthy.
“I feel good,” Clark told reporters after the fourth game of the tournament. “Obviously, five games in seven days is a true test to see where my body’s at, but so far I feel really good.”
USA Basketball already punched its ticket to the World Cup in Berlin, Germany, in September before this qualifying tournament. But USA still plays in the tournament to get reps for its younger players like Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and Kiki Iriafen and the newly assembled coaching staff.
This qualifying roster will not be the same as the World Cup roster in September — players like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier and Sabrina Ionescu did not play in this tournament but are expected to be on the World Cup roster, as the WNBA takes a leaguewide break for the tournament.
So, Clark is not guaranteed to be on the World Cup roster; WNBA legend and USA Basketball managing director Sue Bird will make the final roster decisions as the tournament gets closer. But based on her play in the WNBA and in the qualifying tournament, she has a good chance of being in Berlin.
“She brings this dynamic play to the offensive end, I mean, that goes without saying,” USA Basketball coach Kara Lawson said of Clark on March 11. “And as much as she is dynamic as a scorer, she’s one of the most dynamic playmakers in the world as well.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar’s YouTube channel for Fever Insiders Live.
