What will Caitlin Clark’s offseason look like? Her options are plentiful

LAS VEGAS — Caitlin Clark’s sophomore season had been on ice for some time, ever since the 2024 rookie of the year aggravated a groin injury against the Connecticut Sun on July 15.

Now, after Tuesday’s Game 5 loss in the WNBA semifinals to the Las Vegas Aces, the Indiana Fever’s 2025 campaign is officially over. Clark faces a pivotal offseason after what was essentially a lost season individually, but one that nevertheless represented a step forward for the franchise by reaching the second round of the playoffs despite an array of injuries.

Clark’s priority will be ensuring she is fully healthy for the Fever’s 2026 season. But as the Fever were eliminated, she has before her a bevy of options on how she spends her offseason. She could rest and rehab, work with Team USA or join Unrivaled.

In an interview with “The Fan Morning Show” last week, Fever president Kelly Krauskopf said she wasn’t concerned about Clark’s long-term health.

“​​When she suffered the ankle injury, it was just a way to say, look, we gotta slow this down, make sure that everything is a long-term play for us,” Krauskopf said, referring to an injury Clark sustained in August. “Caitlin’s going to be fine. She’s doing great, and like most competitors, she’s trying to be out there and do what she can do. Every single day she’s working out and plans to be fully returned.”

Clark has yet to play professionally outside of the WNBA. She was invited to join Unrivaled after her rookie season but elected for some rest after playing a full calendar year that started with her senior season in Iowa. Unrivaled is still an option for Clark in 2026 if she chooses; the domestic 3×3 league is in the process of announcing its 48-player roster for its second season, but president Alex Bazzell said there have not been discussions for Clark to join this season.

Before Unrivaled’s inaugural season last year, according to Sports Business Journal, Clark was offered a contract that was worth more than $1 million – more than three times her WNBA salary — and included equity.

“There’s no current dialogue taking place right now,” Bazzell told The Athletic earlier this month. “Everyone knows that we want the best players. Everyone knows that if they’re interested, we always have spots.”

At this time last year, Indiana’s then-general manager Lin Dunn expressed a desire for Clark to play five-on-five basketball during the WNBA offseason to get more reps at the pro level. Although Dunn is now a senior adviser and given that Clark played only 13 games as a sophomore, the Fever front office likely wouldn’t mind Clark getting back on the court before May.

How many autographs can Caitlin Clark sign in 2 minutes? We kept track: 48 🙌

The fans in Indy are showing Clark love ahead of the Aces vs. Fever game at 3:00pm/ET on ABC.

WNBA Playoffs | @Googlepic.twitter.com/aUYFzskb5c

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 28, 2025

Playing in Unrivaled is a different endeavor, especially because of its physicality. Indiana coach Stephanie White noted the potential correlation between the WNBA’s physicality and Clark’s repeated soft tissue injuries after her groin injury against Connecticut; those issues could be heightened in Unrivaled.

“Someone who has the ball in her hands as much as Caitlin, the physicality that she’s experiencing for 40 minutes, it causes you to load differently, it causes you to explode differently, it causes you to accelerate and decelerate differently,” White said in July. “It’s not the free-flowing movement that we want to see.”

“All of those things at times, while it might not be one blow or another can contribute to that, that’s why freedom of movement is a huge emphasis from our coaches’ standpoint when we have conversations at the league level,” she added. “I do think the physicality with which teams are able to play with (Clark) is a factor.”

Although stars of the past routinely played overseas, Clark doesn’t need to choose such a grueling offseason schedule that would also take her away from her marketing opportunities in the U.S. Her generational counterparts, including Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese, have mostly eschewed going overseas.

If Clark doesn’t want to go overseas or join Athletes Unlimited, another professional American league, one way for Clark to play five-on-five during the offseason would be with Team USA. The Americans already have qualified for the 2026 World Cup by virtue of winning the 2025 AmeriCup. However, Team USA will still participate in a qualifying tournament in March so that the senior national team can get together for the first time since the 2024 Olympics.

Clark has made it clear that playing in the Olympics is a dream. A necessary first step toward that goal would be appearing in a senior training camp, which she has yet to do. Making the World Cup roster would also go a long way for Clark towards eventually making Team USA for the 2028 Olympics, which will be hosted in Los Angeles.

Clark was previously invited to training camp in 2024 but had to pass because the Hawkeyes were in the Final Four. Presumably, she would receive and accept an invite to Kara Lawson’s first camp as the head coach of the national team. A qualifying tournament would provide a low-stakes yet competitive environment for Clark to make her return to the court while setting her up for future goals.

Although the WNBA season only lasts for six months, basketball is a year-round grind. How Clark approaches her offseason will affect what she can accomplish during the league year. After a season spent mostly on the sideline, this part of the year is more important than ever for the young superstar.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Indiana Fever, WNBA, Olympics

2025 The Athletic Media Company