How Clark's extended absence impacts Fever's WNBA playoffs

The Indiana Fever said Thursday that guard Caitlin Clark is out for the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season, missing the team's final three regular-season games and any potential postseason play. The announcement ended weeks of speculation about when Clark, who hasn't played since July 15 due to a right groin injury, would return -- a frustrating chapter for Clark and the Fever, who currently are the No. 8 seed for the WNBA playoffs.

Clark didn't miss a game during her four seasons at Iowa or her first season in the WNBA, when she won Rookie of the Year and led the league in assists and 3-pointers. But she has struggled to stay healthy throughout 2025, appearing in just 13 of Indiana's 41 games so far.

Three different injuries forced her to miss the Commissioner's Cup final on July 1, won by the Fever over Minnesota; the All-Star Game, for which she was a captain for the contest in her home arena, Gainbridge Fieldhouse; and the final seven weeks of the season.

What does it mean for the Fever and WNBA that Clark won't be in the playoffs? And what's next for the 23-year-old, who is one of the biggest stars in professional sports?

How does Thursday's news impact the rest of the Fever's season and playoff hopes going forward?

The Fever have been through so many injuries and new players added and subtracted this season that they've proved they just roll with the punches. And they won't be surprised by this news -- they're around Clark all the time and know how her recovery has been going. Despite all the difficulties, four Fever players have appeared in all 41 games: guards Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull, and posts Aliyah Boston and Natasha Howard.

That's still a very good and experienced quartet of players to take into the postseason if the Fever can lock up their playoff berth. Mitchell and Boston are both averaging career highs in points, and Hull has career-high averages in points (7.2), rebounds (4.4) and assists (1.8). Howard is a three-time WNBA champion with Seattle (twice) and Minnesota.

In August, after season-ending injuries to guards Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson, the Fever added veteran guard Odyssey Sims. They also added Aerial Powers later in the month after Sophie Cunningham was lost for the season. Sims and Powers combined have played in 55 WNBA postseason games. Powers won a WNBA title with Washington.

Obviously, this team doesn't look like what was expected back in May, but its resilience has never gone away. Clark being officially shut down is a blow, but the Fever have played more than twice as many games without Clark this season as they have with her. -- Voepel

How has Indiana played without Clark?

The good news for the Fever is they still have two healthy All-Stars in Boston and Mitchell, the latter of whom has stepped up as Indiana's primary perimeter creator in Clark's absence. Mitchell has averaged 21.2 PPG and 3.9 APG in 28 games without Clark, compared with 19.2 PPG and 2.2 APG as part of an All-Star backcourt duo.

However, recent injuries to guards beyond Clark have tested Indiana's depth. The Fever won five consecutive games from July 24 to Aug. 3, but just after the win streak was snapped in Los Angeles, they lost McDonald and Colson in a loss to Phoenix. Including that game, which neither player finished, Indiana has gone 4-7 in its past 11 games. Then Cunningham, who averaged 11.2 PPG in 13 starts, was also lost for the season.

Intriguingly, Indiana still has a better net rating (minus-2.5 points per 100 possessions) in that span than Los Angeles (minus-3.5), according to WNBA Advanced Stats. The Sparks are 1.5 games back of the Fever for the eighth and final playoff spot, which is why the Fever make the playoffs in 93% of simulations using ESPN's Basketball Power Index (BPI). But Indiana's net rating is last among the eight teams currently in playoff position, which doesn't bode well for a first-round upset. -- Pelton

Why did the Fever make the decision now?

The Fever might have been ready to pull the plug on Clark's season even before Thursday. But Clark is a fierce competitor, and Fever management probably wanted to give her every opportunity to return if she could. All along, it has seemed like the Fever have tried to balance encouraging Clark with attempting to stay pragmatic.

But with the end of the regular season next week, the clock had realistically run out on her coming back. There was no reason to keep dangling that hope to Fever fans, many of whom likely anticipated this announcement, or for Clark to keep pushing toward an impossible goal. -- Voepel

What does Clark being shut down for the season mean for her immediate future?

She ends her second season having averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 13 games. Even in her time off the court, she was never disengaged from the Fever. She was a vocal and energetic presence on the bench, and we can expect that will remain the same for all of Indiana's remaining games. But there is now no pressure to push herself physically, which is for the best. She can focus on getting healthy, setting up workout routines that will carry over into the offseason and supporting the team for however long the 2025 season lasts.

As for what it means for the WNBA, clearly Clark is the league's biggest draw: Her presence on the court draws interest even from people who aren't big sports fans. She definitely will be missed in the postseason. But if the standings hold, Indiana still will host its first playoff game since 2016, and across the league there remains anticipation for the playoffs and several intriguing storylines. -- Voepel

What should we expect from Clark next May in her third WNBA season?

For this injury-plagued season to be a memory. We're still at least eight months away from the start of the 2026 regular season, more than enough time for Clark's groin to heal completely.

Perhaps the most compelling parallel to Clark's lost 2025 is Michael Jordan's second NBA season. After winning Rookie of the Year, like Clark did last year, Jordan was limited to 18 games and seven starts in 1985-86 by a navicular fracture. (One key difference: Jordan returned for the playoffs, dropping 63 points on the eventual champion Celtics at the Boston Garden in a first-round loss.) The following season, Jordan averaged a career-high 37.1 PPG and finished second in MVP voting.

There's WNBA precedent, too. Three-time MVP A'ja Wilson went from averaging 20.7 PPG as a rookie to 16.5 in Year 2, in part because of an ankle sprain that cost her a couple of weeks. The next year, in 2020, Wilson won the first of those MVP trophies. Sue Bird managed to play all 34 games during her second season despite a knee injury that required microfracture surgery the following offseason. In Year 3, Bird helped lead the Seattle Storm to the first of her four championships.

That's not to say that Clark will win a scoring title, MVP or a championship in 2026, but her potential shouldn't be limited by what happened this year.

One interesting question is whether missing so much time might alter Clark's offseason plans. She opted against any organized competition after her rookie campaign, but going so long without competitive games might not be ideal for Clark this time around. That could make participating in Unrivaled's 3-on-3 play or going overseas more appealing. -- Pelton