{"id":175363,"date":"2025-09-23T03:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T03:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/175363\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T03:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T03:32:09","slug":"indiana-fever-star-caitlin-clark-cant-return-in-wnba-playoffs-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/175363\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever Star Caitlin Clark Can\u2019t Return in WNBA Playoffs: Here\u2019s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Caitlin Clark cheers on her teammates as she remains sidelined by injury. (Photo: Ryan May\/800 Meter)<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2014 It\u2019s been a while since the Indiana Fever have played this deep into the season. Last week, the franchise celebrated its first playoff win in a decade.<\/a><\/p>\n

Then another.<\/p>\n

And another, this time on Sunday in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The Fever are 3-1 during this special postseason run, defying odds and all outside expectations as the 6-seed and with six players unavailable due to injury.<\/p>\n

One of those sidelined is the highest-profile player in the league: Caitlin Clark. She has been out since July 15 after injuring to her right groin<\/a>, later compounded by a bone bruise in her left ankle suffered a few weeks later.<\/a><\/p>\n

On Sept. 4, two weeks before the start of the playoffs, the Fever made a collaborative decisive to rule Clark out for the remainder of the 2025 season.<\/a> She announced the news on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had hoped to share a better update, but I will not be returning to play this season,\u201d Clark wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent hours in the gym every day with the singular goal of getting back out there, disappointed isn\u2019t a big enough word to describe how I am feeling. I want to thank everyone who had my back through all the uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager Amber Cox added: \u201cWe are looking forward to having her back at full strength to start the 2026 season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, with the Fever\u2019s extended postseason run, many fans are wondering if a return is possible.<\/p>\n

The answer is simple: no.<\/p>\n

Teams must submit an active roster before the playoffs, and Clark was not included. Adding her would have meant losing a hardship player spot, a temporary roster exception that allows teams to carry extra players when others are injured.<\/p>\n

Once the postseason begins, teams cannot add hardship players or make changes to the roster. That means the Fever\u2019s playoff roster is set.<\/p>\n

Clark, limited to 13 games this season, continues rehabbing and getting shots up \u2014 including at shootaround in Atlanta before Game 3 \u2014 but she is not practicing with the team.<\/p>\n

Beyond the roster rules, she has not competed in a game for more than two months \u2014\u00a0which impacts her conditioning, game rhythm and timing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For now, Clark remains a visible presence, proudly leading the Fever\u2019s \u201cBench Mob.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s worn Black Air Force 1s during three straight games \u2014\u00a0all Fever wins.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also been more active on social media throughout the playoff run, tweeting \u201cKelsey unreal\u201d after MVP finalist Kelsey Mitchell\u2019s scored a game-high 34 points to lead the Fever to a double-digit Game 1 win Sunday in Las Vegas.<\/a><\/p>\n

The day before, Clark revealed that the WNBA fined her $200 for commenting \u201cRefs couldn\u2019t stop us\u201d on an Instagram post about the Bench Mob\u2019s energy and spirit.<\/p>\n

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

Clark also tweeted \u201cSTEPHANIE WHITE !!!!!!!!!!!\u201d following Indiana\u2019s series-clinching win over the Atlanta Dream last week<\/a> \u2014 the franchise\u2019s first playoff series victory since its 2015 Finals run.<\/p>\n

The next time fans will see Clark on the court will be the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Until then, Indiana\u2019s improbable postseason run continues \u2014 powered by a connected, likable group that has won eight of its last 11 and shows no sign of slowing down.<\/p>\n

Leave a comment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark cheers on her teammates as she remains sidelined by injury. (Photo: Ryan May\/800 Meter) LAS VEGAS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-175363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}