Clark takes advantage of WNBA’s Olympic break to reset for sprint to playoffs
INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark took full advantage of her snub by the U.S. Olympic team.
She visited Mexico, attended a friend's wedding in Iowa, and even got to see the New York Yankees' clubhouse. So when the Indiana Fever star returned to practice Tuesday, she was rested, revived and revved up to restart the WNBA season.
For Clark and the rest of this year's remarkable rookie class, the nearly monthlong Olympic break was a welcome and perhaps necessary respite before for the final sprint to the playoffs.
“Oh yeah, I think it was very helpful just to reset,” Clark said. “Coming in here, I didn't know my teammates very well and you're just kind of tossed out on the court, trying to figure each other out. I think you can tell I'd gotten more comfortable over the last few games heading into the break, so I was kind of like 'Oh, I need the break.'”
From the moment college practices opened last fall, WNBA rookies played under a white-hot glare rarely experienced in women's basketball — nightly sellout crowds, soaring ticket prices on secondary markets, record-breaking television ratings and their own incessant desire to live up to growing expectations.
With only eight days between the NCAA championship game and the WNBA draft and two more weeks before the start of training camp, the fast pace continued into their pro careers.
Fans debated what long-term impact these women could have on the sport while salaries, endorsement deals, chartered flights and, yes, even the Olympic selections continued to fuel interest in the sport.
In mid-May, the rookies began a 40-game regular season — one made all the more challenging by a modified schedule, compressed because of the long break.
When the break comes again, in 2028, Clark could be forming the nucleus of the U.S. team in Los Angeles.
But that doesn't discount how Clark benefited this time around.
Clark used the non-practice time to bond with teammates. They held a “home run derby,” competed on an Indianapolis ropes course and braved some of the hottest temperatures of the summer to attend the Indiana State Fair.
Now it's time to get back to basketball.
“Definitely need a game,” Fever coach Christy Sides said after running a game between her players and the men who practice against them. “It's time to see some competition. Like, it's been a long time.”
Indiana and Chicago begin their stretch runs holding the final two spots in the league's eight-team playoff bracket.
The Fever has 14 games left, starting at home against Phoenix and Seattle, teams that have four players who returned from their Olympic break with gold medals — Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Kahleah Copper and Jewell Lloyd.
The race to the playoffs is what matters now.
“I've been ready to get going and play games for a while,” Clark said. “I think we're all kind of ready. We're kind of beating up on each other, beating up on the boys and I think we want to get out there and feel like we're ready to play more games. I think this prep has been really good, but eventually you get to the point where it's like 'All right, let's go now.'”