SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Caitlin Clark is preparing for her first basketball game in almost eight months, and it’s inevitable to feel excitement. Upon her return to action in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers for Team USA, Clark doesn’t try to suppress that emotion. “I don’t want to call it nerves, but excitement to play,” Clark said after practice on Monday. “This is a really great opportunity. If you don’t feel that way, you probably don’t care enough,” she continued. “Certainly, that’s how I feel about it. This is a different scenario. You’re not going to go out here and be the star player. That’s not how it’s going to be for USA Basketball.” This is the first time Clark is participating with the senior national team, and it’s the first organized series of matches she’s playing since her second season in the WNBA was marred by injuries and ultimately cut short. The Indiana Fever star has been out since mid-July with several leg injuries: a right groin injury suffered on July 15, followed by a bone bruise in the left ankle which, according to Clark, never allowed her to fully test how her groin was recovering. But even before that, she had injured her left quadriceps and left groin. She played in only 13 games with the Fever last season, averaging 16.5 points and 8.8 assists. She had not missed any games during her rookie campaign. Clark did most of her rehabilitation and training outside of her team. Earlier this week, she told reporters in Miami that the first U.S. basketball camp she participated in in December was a good checkpoint for her. During that camp, Clark said she was 100% healthy, but acknowledged that she didn’t know how long it would take to feel like herself again.
Clark’s physical condition and workload will be tested, as the U.S. Team is scheduled to play five games in seven days during the qualifying tournament.“I feel like I’ve gotten myself in the best shape possible right now,” Clark said on Monday. “The first game is the hardest, but once you get into a kind of flow of things, you figure it out.”
Caitlin Clark
“Getting to [play] at this level for the first time, there’s no better way to be thrown into the fire,” she continued. Along with Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and Kiki Iriafen also debut in the senior national team. “The preparation for the games is probably the hardest part,” Clark said. “Once you’re in the game, you’re just playing, you’re in the flow. [But] it’s the preparation to get to that point. For me, it’s getting back into the routine of how you prepare for game days. After the first and second game, it will be second nature.” “I know I’ll be really excited on game day,” Clark added. “Probably a little anxious, but in a good way.”It’s similar to the WNBA when you have back-to-back games; you have an in-between day,” Clark said. “But [this is] also international competition. That’s what I’ve dealt with in the past, and I hope, hopefully, in the World Cup, if I’m lucky enough to be on the team, it’ll be the exact same scenario”.
Caitlin Clark
