Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham set to return as Fever face unbeaten Liberty

After missing multiple games due to injury, Clark (quad strain) and Cunningham (ankle) plan to play Saturday against the 9-0 Liberty — the marquee WNBA matchup on ABC.

Almost three weeks since Caitlin Clark was diagnosed with a left quad strain, the WNBA star plans to return to game action on Saturday.

It’s not just any game either. It’s against the reigning WNBA Champion New York Liberty — and it’s the showcase game Saturday at 3 ET on ABC.

“I felt like today was better than yesterday in terms of movement and balance and feeling like she's getting back into rhythm, timing, all of those things,” Fever head coach Stephanie White told reporters after practice on Friday. “As long as we don't have any regressions, she's going to be ready to roll.”

The Fever will also be getting back guard Sophie Cunningham, who reaggrevated a right ankle sprain suffered one month ago in their preseason finale. She’s ready to roll too.

“Sophie looked really good,” White said. “Her timing was good. Getting back into game rhythm and timing is the most important thing, and then being able to change directions. I thought she looked good. She's had really good workouts throughout the course of the week, and then it's just been reintegrating into live action.”

Clark is returning after further imaging confirmed that her quad had recovered well. “There was imaging done to tell that my leg is okay,” Clark added. “Like we're not guessing, we're not going off of feeling.”

Recently, she returned to sprinting and changing directions — the two biggest tells for this type of injury. They just have to make sure everything is firing properly.

In the meantime, she lifted weights and did lots of needling as well.

“Literally anything, I tried it,” she said. “Red light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen chamber, like we do it all.”

The most impressive thing from the last three weeks is her mentality.

“I don't need to make up for lost time,” she said. That would be the natural feeling. The Fever are 4-5 while the 9-0 Liberty are the last unbeaten team.

Coincidentally, Clark’s las game played was at home against the Liberty on May 24. They only lost by two.

The Fever then lost three of their next five games, including their first two games. The addition of Aari McDonald on an emergency hardship contract helped a great deal. However, the team was forced to waive her since Clark and Cunningham are returning.

“She’s been the ultimate pro,” White said. “… We're going to miss her, certainly. What she brought to the table for us and being able to come in at the point guard position and just really impact us right away was huge. She's not going to have a problem finding a job.”

Veteran DeWanna Bonner has been away from the team for the last few days due to personal reasons. She is not expected back for Saturday.

“I think she's doing as well as she can be,” said White. “We’re going to continue to support her and giving her the time that she needs.”

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As for Clark, she helped teammates on the bench and stood up for them with officials while she was only in street clothes. But more than that, the coaching staff asked her to chart certain things during games. So that should help with her in noticing trends, mismatches, switches, etc. They had to adapt their playing style several times, and will again now that she’s returning.

It’s been a very disruptive first month to the regular season.

“It is like starting day one again and really regrouping in terms of jelling with this group,” White said. “And I thought just from yesterday to today, it looked much better.”

Clark, who was a finalist for WNBA MVP in her rookie season, leads the Fever with 19 points, 6.0 rebounds and 9.2 assists per game. It’s the first time that she’s missed games since she was a teenager. She started in all 40 games last season and never missed a game at Iowa.

“I think the hardest part is when you begin to feel really good, and then it's just a process of working yourself back into actually getting up and down, and getting out there with my teammates,” Clark said. “And obviously that can be a little difficult at the same time when they're prepping for other games that I know I'm not going to be available in.”

Clark was also sure to give credit to the team’s training staff that was with her every step of the way: Todd Champlin and Maria Witte.

“I have to give them a lot of credit,” she said. “I think they did a really good job and just have tried to control my mindset the whole time that I've been out and learned from the bench. I think it can teach you a lot of different things. And, yeah, it was certainly a learning opportunity, and I think it's going to benefit me a lot throughout my career just falling back and understanding, you know, certain moments like this. But I'm super, super excited. I'm antsy to get out there and probably shake off a little bit of rust and play.”

Getting Clark back is significant for all — to fans, to the team, to media partners, etc. — but Cunningham returning is huge as well. They’re both fiery competitors who play hard and are great communicators. That helps as the team goes through so many transitions — and, once again, have to go through a reintegration process.

Missing time hasn’t been easy for Cunningham.

“I felt good coming into training camp,” she said. “I felt like I was in the best shape I've been in since being in the league (and was) getting the flow with the team. Then you get hurt pretty bad, torn up ankle, maybe came back a little bit too soon. Freak accident.

“I think I've been progressing really well every single day. And I'm pretty much full-go now.”

Before Saturday’s matinee, Clark and teammates will attend Game 4 of the NBA Finals as the Pacers try to take a commanding 3-1 series lead as the heavy underdogs in the series. More than a half-dozen players were at The Fieldhouse on Wednesday for Game 3.

“It’s really fun to watch,” Clark said. “And more than anything, they're just really great people. They're good guys. I've been really, really fortunate to be here during this time. So hopefully they can finish it out in five (games) because I won't be able to come for Game 6. So I'll have to make an appearance tonight, even though we play at 3 p.m. I'll be there at least for a little bit. So hopefully they can win tonight as well.”

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