INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JUNE 17: Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever smiles during a 2025 Commissioner’s Cup game against the Connecticut Sun on June 17, 2025 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

By Madie Chandler | FeverBasketball.com

Caitlin Clark’s presence on the court with her Fever teammates creates a gravity that enhances Indiana’s offensive ecosystem in a way only fully evidenced by her absence.

In the two games since her return, Indiana has won by an average of 15.5 points, defeating the previously unbeaten New York Liberty on Saturday, 102-88, and a fiery Connecticut Sun squad on Tuesday, 88-71.

Clark hadn’t missed a basketball game since high school when she tweaked her quad early in the Fever season. The injury forced her to sit out for two weeks, but that time wasn’t lost in the young point guard’s development – in fact it might have done a great deal in giving her a different perspective.

“The biggest thing that kind of helped me process from the sideline, is you can really just digest the game in a different manner,” Clark said on Tuesday. “Obviously, when you’re on the court, it’s so fast and there’s so many different things I’m trying to read…But from the side, I think you can really understand how the game flows and what your team really needs in that moment.”

Indiana’s 2-3 record without Clark had the Fever at an even 5-5 entering Tuesday’s matchup with the Sun. It’s no question that the Fever are better with Clark in the lineup – she’s a generational talent coming off a rookie of the year campaign and maintaining historic pace in a variety of statistical categories.

But Clark’s game is about more than what she does herself. The long-range triples and flashy blow-bys open up the real key to Indiana’s offense – her passing.

When Clark is on the court, the opposing team devotes a wealth of attention to her as a multi-level scorer. Clark draws defenses in, forcing them to over-commit and over-rotate to keep her from scoring, allowing the four Fever players flanking her on the court to flow into the offense.

“We work on that in practice every single day,” Natasha Howard said. “Just working on flowing and just running, because no team can really stop us when we run.”

It was evident in Clark’s first game back from injury as she dismantled the New York Liberty with 32 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists. It was solidified on Tuesday with her 20 points and six assists, but more so by Indiana’s four double-digit scorers.

Clark notched six assists on Tuesday – two to Kelsey Mitchell, two to Aliyah Boston, and one each to Damiras Dantas and Howard. The three double-digit scorers joining Clark were Mitchell with 17 points, Howard with 16 points, and Dantas with 13 points. Boston came close with her 9-point night, and added five assists and nine rebounds to the mix. Howard recorded a double-double with her 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Six assists is a relatively low mark for Clark’s young career, but her impact can’t always be analyzed with box score stats. She is energy, passion, and gravity – a volatile mix of emotion and skill that changes the complexion of a basketball game by nothing more than being on the court.

“I’m a passionate player,” Clark said. “But at the end of the day, I’m here to play basketball. And that’s what it is, and my game’s going to talk. And that’s all that really matters. I love this game, and I’m going to give it everything I have. I think that’s what competitors do. You just step right back up to the challenge.”

The win on Tuesday sent the Fever to the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals where the Fever will take on the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday, July 1, for a chance at a mid-season trophy.

Indiana, now 6-5 and holding the third seed in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference, sixth overall in the league, embark on a grueling stretch of the schedule – six games in the next 11 days, beginning with a road trip to Golden State on Thursday, June 19, 10:00 PM ET.