Caitlin Clark Talks Return to Fever from Injury After Making 2026 WNBA Preseason Debut

Preseason or not, Caitlin Clark was happy to be back on a WNBA court for the Indiana Fever.

The third-year guard played 17 minutes in Saturday's 109-91 win over the New York Liberty.

"This isn't a real game, I understand that, but that's how we treat it, like a real game," she told reporters after the game. "I think anytime you get to put on your uniform and lace up your shoes you don't take that for granted, especially after coming off last year when I didn't get to do that very much."

Clark struggled in her first action with the Fever since last July. She shot 2-of-10 from the field and scored seven points, adding three rebounds and four assists.

Nobody is judging the 2024 Rookie of the Year off her preseason performances, though. From that standpoint, having her shake off the rust is the primary objective prior to Indiana's opener on May 9 against the Dallas Wings.

Coach Stephanie White cited the value in having her represent Team USA over the offseason toward achieving that goal as well.

"She was itchy and antsy before training camp started," White said. "Glad she had those games with USA Basketball and came into training camp having played. Now it's fine tuning."

Setting Clark aside, Saturday's win and the next two games are important toward finalizing the roster.

First-round pick Raven Johnson scored six points and dished out eight assists. Fellow draftees Justine Pissott (eight points) and Jessica Timmons (10 points) had encouraging showings as well.

Veteran guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 18 points to match Kelsey Mitchell's team high.

Indiana cruised despite Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull, Tyasha Harris and Damiris Dantas all resting. Altogether, things are shaping up nicely for Indiana ahead of the season.