Audio By Carbonatix
Caitlin Clark did not know what she needed to work on prior to her rookie season in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever until she knew. It was something of a baptism by fire.
Year two is different.
Clark, the reigning Rookie of the Year in the WNBA, had seven months to prepare for her sophomore season. That was very different than 2024. Clark had to go straight from the college basketball season at Iowa, which really begins in October, to the WNBA Draft, to training camp, to the preseason, to the 40-game regular season and eventually to the postseason. There was no break. She was go, go, go.
Clark was bullied during the early season. Diana Taurasi was right that there would be an adjustment period and it took some time for the greatest scorer in college basketball history to get acclimated.
Of course, she got things figured out in a hurry, but she did not get a true break until October.
The first priority during the offseason was rest. Clark needed to rest.
Caitlin Clark couldn’t stay away from the gym.
The 23-year-old is not very good at sitting still so it did not take her long to get back to work— and the work did not stop. No days off! Even when Clark attended an event on the night before, even hundreds of miles away, she was still in the gym at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. Even when Clark was on vacation, she could not stand the idea of a missed workout and was working closely with Indiana Fever athletic performance coach Sarah Kessler on a plan to stay productive.
This was Caitlin Clark’s first opportunity to rest and to fine-tune her body as a professional. It was a chance to work right alongside Kessler for an extended period of time in pursuit of a common goal: strength. That’s pretty rare.
I don’t know the last time I’ve had an athlete in the W, or even on the men’s side, really, where you have a consistent four- to five-month period where you get to just work together.
— Sarah Kessler, via ESPN
Clark’s new arms first went viral at the Big Ten Championship. They look completely different than a year ago in terms of muscle mass, which was even more apparent at media day earlier this month.
WNBA opponents tried to slow down the No. 1 overall pick through physical (often overly physical) play. That was the primary focus for Clark over the last few months: being able to push back. Kessler worked with her to build explosiveness, improve her center of gravity to prevent her from being knocked off balance, and to add mass. The point guard focused on single-arm exercises because she was previously too weak to throw certain masses. She also took creatine.
The hard work (and supplements) paid off. Caitlin Clark is jacked.
Caitlin Clark also tweaked her game!
Despite what Doug Gottlieb might think, Clark did not overhaul her entire shooting motion during the offseason. She made some small changes while working with the Indiana Fever’s new player development coach, Keith Porter. They fine-tuned her footwork, creativity and midrange game, and even added a floater.
Here’s the part that I find especially cool. Stephanie White was hired to replace Christie Sides as head coach in December.
Caitlin Clark immediately asked her new coach to see the scouting report that she had created for her with the Connecticut Sun last season. That would allow her to fix the things other teams tried to exploit. They, with Porter, watched film and discussed what needs to change before they hit the gym.
It’s just subtleties. It’s nuance. Just little different things that we wanted to not change, but tweak, add to, emphasize that can help her be just a little bit more efficient and just a little bit more difficult to guard.”
— Stephanie White, via ESPN
Indiana looked like a completely different team during the preseason. Clark looks like a completely different person in terms of physique. The Fever will be legitimate contenders in the WNBA this season as opposed to a playoff hopeful. Their season officially gets underway on May 17!