Fever Star Caitlin Clark Seems to Keep Getting Hurt, but Why Is It So Common?

Although she is not even the league's best player, Caitlin Clark has received a huge amount of attention over the course of her two seasons in the WNBA. Caitlin's rookie season was genuinely phenomenal, but her return to the court in her second season has been marred by injury and inconsistency.

During the July 15 game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun, Caitlin appeared to injure her groin yet again and left the game before it was over. Now, fans are wondering why Caitlin Clark seems to be getting hurt so frequently. Here's what we know.

Caitlin's latest injury occurred during the final minute of the game against the Sun, and Caitlin looked visibly frustrated afterward. While we don't know whether Caitlin will miss time with the latest injury, it's just the latest in a season that has been marred by them. She has missed nine games so far, and this comes after a college and pro career in which she never missed a single game as a result of injury.

There's no single explanation for why Caitlin appears to be facing injury so regularly after a career in which she's been remarkably healthy. It's possible that it's just a string of bad luck, or that one injury has led her to use her body in ways that might compensate and then lead to other issues. So far this season, she has faced a quad strain and a groin injury, and it's clear that she has been frustrated by this spate of injuries.

While this is unlikely to be the sole cause, it's also noteworthy that, because she is such a phenomenon and because she's so gifted, she faces remarkably physical defense every time she takes to the court. That physicality is designed to disrupt her game, but it might also be taking at least some sort of toll on her body because of the number of hits and falls she sustains over the course of a game.

"I knew it as an opponent, and I see it as her coach," Indiana coach Stephanie White said after the July 15 game, per ESPN. "I'm not exactly sure why, but it just is what it is, and we've got to help her learn to adjust and use it against them in certain ways. We've got to find some ways to make it a little bit easier for her. But the level of physicality overall in our league has been at a different level than it's been for a long time."

"I think we just take it one step at a time," White added. "We'll get some food and get on the plane and start talking about New York. She's being evaluated; we'll see where we are with that. And certainly, we'll have another evaluation, probably, and conversation in the morning, see where we are. But this group has played without her. At least we've got experience in that."