Almost eight months have passed since Caitlin Clark played in a basketball game. But after shutting down her WNBA sophomore season in mid-July due to nagging injuries, she will return to the floor on Wednesday to make her Team USA senior national team debut in the World Cup qualifiers.

Wearing “USA” on her jersey will induce some nerves, Clark said, which is something she’s unaccustomed to feeling on the court. But Clark said she’s worked to rehabilitate so she’s in better form than she was entering last WNBA season.

“It’ll probably take me a second to knock a little bit of the rust off,” she said Saturday morning on a Team USA video news conference. “I’m sure after the first minute of running around on the court, I’ll be just fine. But more than anything, I’m just really excited. I know how much work and how much time I put in to make sure my body’s as healthy as it can be, and to get back not only to a point where I feel like I’m myself, but I feel like I’m even better than where I was at the beginning of last season.”

Team USA tips off its five-game slate on Wednesday against Senegal in Puerto Rico. Though it already qualified for the World Cup in Berlin, the squad was still required to compete in the qualifiers. The tournament will be a welcome opportunity for USA Basketball to earn quality reps together and for national team director Sue Bird to evaluate several players before the 2026 World Cup, where Team USA will defend its five straight gold medals.

Six players, including Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, will make their senior team national debuts in Puerto Rico. Though Clark has played on three of USA Basketball’s youth teams, she understands the senior team has higher expectations and responsibilities. The World Cup will act as the halfway checkpoint to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which is Clark’s ultimate goal with Team USA.

“The amount of people that make it from the U-16 team to eventually get to make their debut on the national team is a very, very, very small number,” Clark said. “So getting to play in just this World Cup qualifier, obviously, is a huge honor within itself. I know getting to put on the jersey will be super special.”

She was a notable omission from the 2024 Olympic team, which sparked debate among fans and media. Many posited about the potential benefits of her inclusion simply for drawing an audience to the Team USA women’s games.

All five of Team USA’s World Cup games will be broadcast on truTV/TNT and streamed on HBO Max. As Clark returns to the floor and makes her Team USA senior debut, there will certainly be plenty of eyes on the young star, and on Team USA as the squad begins its building period for the 2028 Games.

“I think the more eyeballs we can get on the game, the better. And obviously there’s certainly a demand for it, and that’s why TNT is doing it,” Clark said. “There’s people that are really craving this product right now, so that makes me super excited. I think that adds a fun element.”

Having Clark healthy again will be a boost for Team USA, but also a positive sight for Indiana Fever fans who are eager to welcome her back.

She appeared in just 13 games last season with the Fever after suffering a groin injury, and then a bone bruise. She played through injuries during her limited season and said she “wasn’t as healthy as I probably should have been,” but she still tallied five double-doubles and one triple-double. Though her shooting percentages dipped from her rookie season, she averaged 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.8 assists for the much-improved Fever.

Clark said the nagging injuries were challenging as her availability yo-yoed throughout the season. She played in the first four games of the season before missing the next five. Clark played in five games during June — including dropping 32 points against the then-reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty — before being sidelined another four games. The point guard returned for four games in July before ultimately shutting it down for the rest of the season.

“I think that was (what) probably almost played with my mind even more than knowing I was going to be out for a set period of time,” Clark said. “I was always trying to come back, always trying to come back. And then I’d get hurt in another way, and then finally, obviously shutting it down.”

This offseason, Clark didn’t play overseas or in Unrivaled, like many WNBA players. Instead, she opted to train in Indianapolis. In December, during Team USA’s training camp at Duke, she said she felt “great” and that she felt like herself on the floor. Clearly, that performance and her overall Team USA resume was enough for Bird to name her to the 12-member World Cup qualifiers roster.

Clark said she has been doing as much as possible to simulate live basketball in her training and pickup sessions as much as possible, but that “nothing will quite emulate this type of environment.”