{"id":614888,"date":"2026-04-19T17:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614888\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T17:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:39:10","slug":"indiana-fever-eye-wnba-finals-with-caitlin-clarks-return-for-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614888\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever eye WNBA Finals with Caitlin Clark’s return for 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indiana Fever opened training camp Sunday with expectations climbing after falling one win shy of the WNBA Finals last season.<\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 The Indiana Fever<\/a> opened training camp Sunday with expectations climbing after falling one win shy of the WNBA Finals last season.<\/p>\n

Now, with a healthy roster and a headline-making offseason behind them, the focus shifts to taking the next step.<\/p>\n

A new collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA\u00a0and its players paved the way for significant financial movement, including lucrative extensions for cornerstone players like Aliyah Boston\u00a0and Kelsey Mitchell.<\/p>\n

But the biggest boost could come from the return of Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n

The All-Star guard missed much of the 2025 season due to groin and ankle injuries, limiting her availability to 13 games.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Now, entering her third season, Clark says she\u2019s fully healthy and more mindful of what it takes to stay on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a person that doesn\u2019t want to sit out a single rep,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI want to be in there every single time. I just love competing and love playing, and none of that has changed. But I think being a little smarter with my body and understanding what it take, especially for camp days, these days are really long. You\u2019re on the floor for two and a half to three hours, so taking care of my body at this point of the season is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Stephanie White\u00a0said the emphasis for Clark, and the team, goes beyond just production.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cShe does what she does,\u201d White said. \u201cThe thing I want to see is I want her to play with joy. It was such a hard year a year ago. When you\u2019re going through injuries, it\u2019s tough. When you\u2019re in and out, it\u2019s tough. When you can\u2019t do what you love, it\u2019s tough. So I want to see her play with joy, enjoy the opportunity we have and this team that we have, and go out and do what she does best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana finished the 2025 regular season with one of the league\u2019s top offenses, averaging 84.6 points per game, and carried that momentum into a deep playoff run before falling just short of a Finals berth.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

With Clark back at full strength and a core led by Boston and Mitchell intact, the Fever enter 2026 believing their championship window is just beginning.<\/p>\n

The Fever will have its first preseason matchup Saturday, April 25 at the New York Liberty. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indiana Fever opened training camp Sunday with expectations climbing after falling one win shy of the WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-614888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}