Aug 31, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (center) gestures after an offensive foul by Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (foreground right) during the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

ESPN Estimates if Caitlin Clark Will Return in Fever Regular Season

Originally posted on Women's Fastbreak on SI
By Grant Young | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 2:19 PM ET

While the official injury report for the Indiana Fever's September 5 game against the Chicago Sky hasn't been released yet, there's little doubt that superstar guard Caitlin Clark is going to be inactive for the contest. This will mark 20 consecutive games that Clark has missed, as she has only suited up for 13 contests in 2025 because of various soft tissue injuries.

Of course, the main reason Fever fans (and the women's basketball community overall) are frustrated about these injuries is because the WNBA is so much more interesting and intriguing when Clark is cooking on the court rather than being relegated to the bench. But frustration has increased because there hasn't been any clear indication of when No. 22 will make her return.

When Clark hurt her groin on July 15, there was still some optimism that she would compete in the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game just four days later. Now we're approaching nearly two months since that date, and nobody has any idea when Clark will return, or if she'll return at all this season.

ESPN Projects When Caitlin Clark Will Return From Injury

For each upcoming WNBA game's preview, ESPN's website lists an injury report that includes each injured player's name, their status for that game, and their estimated return date.

The Fever face the Chicago Sky on September 5. And on this game's injury report, ESPN has Clark's estimated return date as September 9.

The Fever face the Minnesota Lynx on September 9, which is their final game of the regular season. Therefore, based on this, it's clear that ESPN is currently projecting Clark will return in time for the Fever's final regular season game.

Fever fans are hoping that their team will have already cemented its spot in the playoffs before this September 9 showdown, because that would cause a lot of stress while playing against the league's best team.

However, the good news is that the Lynx have already secured their No. 1 overall seed, which means they'll likely be resting their best players during that game (which is something they've already been doing in recent contests).

Kayla McBride (rest) ruled out Monday.
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) September 1, 2025

It's worth noting that ESPN's website initially projected that Clark would return from this injury on August 12, and has pushed this injury return estimate back four or five times at this point. This shows they're just as much in the dark about when Clark will return as anyone or anywhere else.

While Fever fans would prefer Clark return before September 9, they'll be content with that if it means she's at full-go for the playoffs.

This article first appeared on Women's Fastbreak on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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