Caitlin Clark set for Group USA debut after damage setback

[ad_1] NEW Now you can take heed to Fox Information articles!

Anticipation is constructing as Caitlin Clark prepares for her first aggressive motion with the U.S. girls’s nationwide group. The Indiana Fever star is ready to take the court docket in subsequent week’s FIBA World Cup qualifier in Puerto Rico.

A string of injuries sidelined Clark for a lot of the previous eight months, limiting the NCAA’s all-time scoring chief to 13 video games in her second WNBA season.

Clark’s final WNBA look got here in July. She mentioned Saturday she could also be rusty and barely nervous for the qualifier.

"It will in all probability take me a second to knock slightly little bit of the rust off," she mentioned.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Caitlin Clark throughout the USA girls's basketball coaching camp at Duke College Dec. 13, 2025, in Durham, N.C. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Photographs)

"I am going to in all probability be slightly bit nervous, which, I often do not get nervous, however that in all probability comes from I have never actually performed basketball shortly."

However Clark projected that any rust would rapidly put on off.

"I am certain after the primary minute of working round on the court docket, I will be simply advantageous. However greater than something, simply actually excited. I understand how a lot work and the way a lot time I put in to verify my physique's as wholesome as it may be and to get again."

Clark’s damage setbacks final 12 months included a groin pressure adopted by an ankle bone bruise. The Fever’s medical workers intently monitored her restoration as she labored towards returning to the court docket.

Cameron Brink (33) celebrates with Caitlin Clark (17) throughout the USA girls's basketball group's coaching camp at Duke College Dec. 13, 2025, in Durham, N.C. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Photographs)

Clark steered that adversity has solely bolstered her reliance on preparation and self-discipline.

"I've at all times been an individual that is going to only depend on my work. I really feel prefer it's actually made me work more durable," the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year mentioned, referencing her damage setbacks.

"However that is additionally in all probability the half that form of stunk about it's I felt like I put in a lot time and a lot power going into final season after which, clearly, solely appeared in about 13 video games."

Clark didn't compete on the 2024 Paris Olympics, however she mirrored on the expertise of seeing Group USA jerseys as a youngster and the way that second helped form her dream of at some point sporting one herself.

Caitlin Clark throughout the USA' girls's basketball coaching camp at Duke College Dec. 12, 2025, in Durham, N.C. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Photographs)

"My eyes had been so extensive. Thought it was the good factor on this planet of all," she mentioned. "[To see] the senior nationwide jerseys of nice males's gamers and ladies's gamers. It is a 15- or 16-year-old's dream of doing that at some point."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

With the 2026 FIBA Girls’s World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on the horizon, Clark mentioned she stays targeted on regular progress relatively than wanting too far forward.

"There's so much to get to that time," she mentioned. "Clearly, that is my purpose, the World Cup earlier than that. There's so much for me to be taught."