​Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is set to make her first start in two weeks. Clark will be available for the Fever’s road game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, July 8, according to coach Stephanie White, who spoke at shootaround. The matchup begins a back-to-back that ends the following day against the Phoenix Mercury.
“I think overall, I feel good,” Clark said Tuesday at practice. “Everything’s been good up until this point.” When she returns, Clark is expected to operate under a minutes restriction, aiming for more than 20 minutes of action. At the Fever’s shootaround, she appeared in peak form, winning the team’s half-court shot contest.
Meanwhile, Fever center Aliyah Boston has been ruled out for Wednesday due to a right leg injury, White confirmed. Clark’s status had originally been listed as probable with a back issue she aggravated during the Fever’s 111-109 loss to the Mercury on June 24. She exited in the third quarter after landing on a Phoenix defender on a 3-point attempt, was fouled on the play, and grabbed her back on the ground.
Clark has since missed two games—the Fever’s 111-87 win over the Sparks and an 84-68 victory over the Las Vegas Aces—before her highly anticipated return to the lineup. Her status for Thursday’s game against Phoenix remains uncertain, as she indicated she will likely sit while ramping back up from the injury. She acknowledged the challenges of a back-to-back and a four-game road trip, compounded by a lingering back issue.
“With it being a back-to-back, it is obviously kind of tough to get back into it,” Clark said Tuesday. “When you have some back stiffness and things like that, it can affect a lot of other areas of your body… Obviously it’s not always fun sitting on a plane for four hours and traveling a lot… It’s hard on your body to travel and be on the road for 10 days and sleeping in different hotels and things like that. But I know I’m doing everything I can to be as healthy as possible.”
In other news, Paige Bueckers—No. 1 overall pick by the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA draft—went on to win Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game in her first season, highlighting the ongoing excitement around the league’s rising talents.
Fever center Aliyah Boston appeared on Wednesday’s injury report as questionable with a right leg issue, later downgraded to out. Boston sustained a right lower leg injury while playing for Unrivaled’s Phantom BC earlier this year, which caused her to miss the Unrivaled postseason and the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico in March. The injury sidelined Boston for the Fever’s 89-78 win over Seattle on May 17, marking a setback in the club’s bid for better momentum.