Rested, recharged, stronger than ever: How Fever's Caitlin Clark used offseason to reset

INDIANAPOLIS -- It seemed similar each clip caller Indiana Fever wide manager Amber Cox checked her telephone this offseason, she'd find franchise superstar Caitlin Clark connected different bucket-list adventure, surviving the beingness of the A-list personage she'd become. An Eras Tour performance successful the VIP structure successful November. A Kansas City Chiefs crippled successful Taylor Swift's suite successful January. NFL yearly league meetings alongside Serena Williams successful March. The Masters successful April.

But what impressed Cox the astir was what came next.

Regardless of wherever Clark was oregon what lawsuit she was attending, she was astir ever backmost successful the gym astatine Gainbridge Fieldhouse by 8 a.m. the adjacent morning.

"I benignant of marveled astatine it," Cox told ESPN.

Sarah Kessler, the Fever's caput diversion show coach, besides noticed. "I'd beryllium like, you tin slumber successful if you want," she told Clark. "I'll inactive beryllium here."

When Fever president Kelly Krauskopf was amazed Clark was backmost truthful soon from a trip, Clark's effect was simple: "I couldn't miss a workout," she told Krauskopf.

This winter, portion astir of her peers played overseas oregon successful the caller home 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, Clark didn't play competitory basketball. Other than her occasional prima moments that popped up connected TV oregon societal media, she mostly stayed retired of the spotlight. It was her archetypal existent interruption since summertime 2023, earlier her elder twelvemonth astatine Iowa.

But she didn't measurement distant from hoops entirely. Day aft day, successful Indianapolis oregon wherever other her not-so-normal beingness took her, she honed her crippled connected the tribunal and successful the value country -- championing her regular supra all.

"That's wherever I'm going to find my assurance coming into this adjacent season," she told ESPN, "is conscionable knowing I've been consistent, and whether it's been the value room, whether it's been my accomplishment development, my shooting."

As a rookie, Clark finished 4th successful MVP voting and catapulted Indiana backmost to the playoffs for the archetypal clip since 2016. Now she enters the 2025 run rested and recharged, stronger than ever, and looking to payment from a afloat offseason successful which she worked connected the nuances of her game.

"She's acold beyond her years successful presumption of her knowing of however to work," Fever manager Stephanie White told ESPN. "Oftentimes you spot rookies, adjacent the large ones, wherever it usually takes 3 years for them to fig it out. She's got it figured out."

Added Krauskopf, who antecedently led the Fever from 2000 to 2018: "I didn't deliberation I'd find anyone that'd worked arsenic hard arsenic Tamika Catchings did successful the offseason. Caitlin Clark is each spot arsenic overmuch and more."

The thought of her leveling up successful Year 2, with a much-improved roster aspiring to triumph the organization's archetypal title since 2012? That's thing abbreviated of terrifying for the league arsenic Clark -- ESPN BET's MVP favourite for 2025 -- and the Fever unfastened their play Saturday, hosting the Chicago Sky (ABC, 3 p.m. ET).

"[This year] determination is this antithetic aura astir it," teammate Lexie Hull told ESPN, "that she's present and she's acceptable to instrumentality attraction of business."

TWENTY-SIX DAYS separated Clark's last crippled astatine Iowa and her archetypal WNBA preseason contest. She past launched her pro vocation with 11 games successful 20 days, astir each against top-echelon teams. She reflected precocious connected however the magnitude of it each had yet struck her: There was a batch coming astatine her -- and coming astatine her accelerated -- arsenic she transitioned to the W and to soaring worldwide fame.

Clark is "pretty bully astatine the whirlwind," arsenic Iowa manager Jan Jensen enactment it, go-go-going and not reasoning overmuch astatine each astir immoderate of it until a respite yet comes. Once the Fever play concluded -- White's Connecticut Sun swept Indiana successful the archetypal circular -- Clark could yet dilatory down and measure everything that had happened the past mates of years because, arsenic Jensen said, "Man, that was a lot."

As Clark planned her offseason, she prioritized her enactment connected the tribunal and successful the value room. While Clark would instrumentality abbreviated trips for off-court obligations and opportunities, she recovered comfortableness successful regular -- "I'm wholly good with doing the aforesaid happening each azygous day," she said. "That astir is soothing to me." Staying successful Indianapolis presented a "huge advantage," White said, arsenic Clark prepared for her sophomore season.

Of course, due to the fact that she's inactive Caitlin Clark, beingness isn't similar those of galore different 23-year-olds -- oregon nonrecreational athletes, for that matter. She played play with satellite No. 1 Nelly Korda and fable Annika Sorenstam astatine The Annika pro-am successful November; was prominently featured successful Nike's archetypal Super Bowl advertisement successful 27 years; appeared connected David Letterman's Netflix show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction"; and spoke astatine the NFL league meetings with Williams and Eli Manning.

But for Clark, fewer offseason endeavors could bushed going to the Masters with her family, wherever she enjoyed the lack of phones astir the green, the Georgia peach crystal pick sandwich and 1 of the astir thrilling finishes the lawsuit has ever seen.

"Sitting connected the 18th greenish Sunday astatine the Masters is 1 of the coolest things ever," Clark said.

play

0:49

Caitlin Clark's engaged offseason, from visiting Taylor Swift to Nelly Korda

Check retired however Caitlin Clark has traveled the state connected a assortment of broadside quests during her archetypal WNBA offseason.

As a Swiftie and longtime Chiefs fan, Clark besides reveled successful attending an NFL playoff crippled astatine Arrowhead Stadium with Swift. Between gathering Swift, seeing prima choky extremity Travis Kelce people a touchdown and enjoying a Chiefs win, it was the "perfect game," Clark said.

"When I saw her sitting arsenic a impermanent successful the Taylor Swift-Kelce box," Jensen said, "I was like, 'What world, man? This is truthful awesome.'"

"I deliberation what radical don't ever recognize astir radical with a definite spotlight, whether it's her, whether it's me, whether it's different nonrecreational jock oregon a popular star, we're existent people," Clark said of Swift. "We're conscionable having mean conversations arsenic immoderate different idiosyncratic successful Arrowhead Stadium that night. She loves the Chiefs conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic I do. I'm talking shot with her. She loved it, and conscionable similar her passion, and honestly, astir apt 1 of the sweetest radical I've ever been around. And everybody says that erstwhile you conscionable her, but it's truly true. She conscionable treats everybody with the aforesaid magnitude of kindness, and her household was great."

Cox, besides a diehard Chiefs fan, said Clark was humble astir the full experience: "I'm like, 'OK, well, however was the suite with Taylor?' She's like, 'It was truly cool, she was truly cool.' And past she's conscionable disconnected to her workout. And you're conscionable like, 'Tell maine more!' I emotion that astir her."

play

0:56

Caitlin Clark: 'The vibes are truly good' with the caller manager and teammates

Caitlin Clark says it has been a learning process with her caller manager and teammates, but she highlights the team's beardown physicality and gait heading into the season.

For astir of the offseason, distant from each the eyeballs and cameras, Clark yet took a bushed -- getting immoderate clip disconnected "the changeless treadmill she had been on," arsenic erstwhile Iowa manager Lisa Bluder enactment it. "I deliberation [the break] was large for her body, her mind, her soul, probably," White added.

"It was bully to get distant from everything and conscionable benignant of beryllium capable to unrecorded my beingness arsenic a mean idiosyncratic ... to conscionable beryllium Caitlin," Clark said. "Don't get maine wrong, I emotion hoops and having the spotlight and playing with my teammates ... but yet getting distant from that was truly steadfast for me."

Just being Caitlin entailed cooking and baking; spending clip extracurricular and with family; and a mates trips backmost to Iowa City, including for her jersey retirement. There were meal parties and crippled nights with Hull and their important others, erstwhile they'd play Gang of Four, Settlers of Catan, Monopoly Deal oregon paper games -- and things would crook competitive.

"You spot her and her fellow going astatine it, her and I going astatine it," Hull said. "I don't cognize if she and her fellow speech connected the thrust location due to the fact that it gets truthful competitive, but it's fun."

Being distant from organized hoops was an accommodation aft Clark had played nonstop for the past year. But she was ne'er acold from it. When Hull, who spent overmuch of the offseason with Clark successful Indianapolis, near for Unrivaled, Clark texted her "every time asking everything astir it," Hull said. Unrivaled made appeals to get Clark to articulation its inaugural play successful Miami, and though she declined, Clark near the doorway unfastened for aboriginal participation.

"You ticker radical playing successful a league that you're not playing in, and you've been itching to play for months connected end, there's like, 'Oh, that looks truthful fun,'" Hull said. "For her this year, it was truly important to conscionable beryllium backmost and watch. ... I deliberation it was the champion happening for her."

IN EARLY MARCH, an unexpected talking constituent came up during the Big Ten women's hoops tourney successful Indianapolis: Caitlin Clark's arms.

A photograph from the lawsuit of Clark cheering from the sideline for her Iowa Hawkeyes, arms flexed, went viral. Fans took announcement of her intelligibly improved strength.

"There's been overmuch ado astir her guns," said Cox, who is besides Indiana's main operating officer.

"She was evidently precise arrogant of it," Kessler said of the photo. "We did person a chuckle astir it, though, due to the fact that it garnered much attraction than we realized it would."

Well someone's been successful the value country 👀😮‍💨 @CaitlinClark22 pic.twitter.com/yBU8p7tp31

The photograph was a peek into what Clark had been up to successful the offseason down closed doors, wherever she and the "army" of radical astir her, arsenic Clark enactment it, had been hard astatine enactment successful her archetypal extended accidental to fine-tune her crippled and assemblage arsenic a pro.

"I don't cognize the past clip I've had an jock successful the W, oregon adjacent connected the men's side, really, wherever you person a accordant four- to five-month play wherever you get to conscionable enactment together," Kessler said.

Added Jensen: "She didn't cognize what she didn't cognize until she knew it. And [then] it was like, 'OK, present I'm going to dial successful here, I'm going to fine-tune this, I request to summation that.' That's what's been amusive astir her always, is she truly loves the challenge."

Clark's biggest offseason absorption was to deed the value room. The physicality of the WNBA was a sizeable accommodation for her past year, and she has said she thought it was opponents' go-to method of slowing her down. Building spot is hard to bash during the season, but successful October, Clark approached Kessler astir adding musculus mass.

"I've had athletes who person said that, and past possibly erstwhile the enactment constituent shows up to really execute those goals, that's wherever there's possibly a disconnect," Kessler told ESPN. "But with Caitlin, she acceptable those goals and from the jump, I was seeing her successful the value country 4 to 5 times a week."

play

0:24

Caitlin Clark 'overwhelmed' pursuing Iowa jersey retirement

Caitlin Clark acknowledgment her teammates aft the Iowa Hawkeyes discontinue her No. 22 jersey.

Kessler focuses connected a batch of single-leg enactment to physique explosiveness with guards, and Clark was nary exception. Kessler incorporated isometrics to assistance Clark amended her clip nether hostility and support a debased halfway of gravity. She tends to play upright, White said, which makes it easier to get knocked disconnected balance.

Single-arm exercises -- Clark acknowledged her near limb antecedently was a spot excessively anemic to propulsion definite passes -- helped guarantee each limb was beardown individually. To supply an further boost of vigor to her muscles, Clark added the supplement creatine to her routine.

If Clark went connected the road, Kessler gave her lifts to bash -- and if she needed to enactment an other day, Kessler would aftermath up to a substance from Clark asking for different assignment. The 2 met monthly to measure whether the information showed Clark was connected way to deed her goals.

Clark paired enactment with Kessler with her on-court training, wherever she worked with subordinate improvement manager Keith Porter 5 to six days per week aft helium moved to Indianapolis successful January. Porter and Kessler besides spoke regular to guarantee Clark's on-court and value country enactment aligned.

Porter's aim, helium told ESPN, was to complement Clark's game. They homed successful connected antithetic footwork to get to her shots, portion besides adding floaters to her repertoire, gathering retired her midrange crippled and moving connected much originative finishes astir the rim.

But it was a collaborative process: One of the archetypal questions Clark asked White aft she was hired was if she could spot the scouting study the Sun compiled against her past season. Soon aft White and Porter arrived successful Indiana, they sat successful the movie country with Clark, breaking down areas for betterment and showing her analytics that crystallized what she already felt: When she goes right, for example, she tends to decorativeness astatine the rim much than erstwhile she drives left, oregon erstwhile she likes to walk oregon measurement backmost and shoot.

"It's conscionable subtleties. It's nuance," White said. "Just small antithetic things that we wanted to not change, but tweak, adhd to, stress that tin assistance her beryllium conscionable a small spot much businesslike and conscionable a small spot much hard to guard."

Early successful their grooming together, Porter tagged on arsenic Clark took an extended travel retired westbound -- "I was gone for a week," she said, "and I'm like, I can't bash a week of nothing, I virtually would person a panic attack. I would hatred that." They'd get successful the gym earlier oregon successful betwixt Clark's off-court obligations. When she attended Nike's yearly meetings for a mates of days, the brace worked retired successful the LeBron James Innovation Center.

"It's astonishing however she could equilibrium doing events, going to enactment out, having meetings astatine Nike, past going backmost to enactment out," Porter said. "I'm conscionable like, 'You're 23. I cognize you're young, but you shouldn't person this overmuch energy. She conscionable keeps going and going and going.'"

The extremity effect is simply a subordinate who operates with overmuch much powerfulness connected the court, Kessler said, and should beryllium overmuch much comfy and assured with immoderate antiaircraft sum she faces this season, Porter added.

Clark is "thankful" for some of them.

"They were precise accessible to me. They're successful present with maine astatine 8 a.m. helping maine get acceptable for moments similar these," Clark said. "You anticipation it shows connected the court, and I deliberation it surely will."

Added Jensen: "She's ever understood what happens successful the dark. And I deliberation sometimes radical hide that astir everybody that's great. You conscionable don't aftermath up and go a generational talent."

play

1:50

Caitlin Clark connected her 36-foot 3: "I'm ever further backmost than I really think"

Caitlin Clark tells Holly Rowe however peculiar it is to play a preseason crippled astatine Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena with her Fever teammates and discusses her 36-foot 3-pointer.

WHEN CLARK LAUNCHED a 36-foot 3-pointer astatine Carver-Hawkeye Arena past week, it was astir arsenic if nary clip had passed since she deed a handbasket from astir the aforesaid spot arsenic a elder to acceptable the Division I women's hoops vocation scoring grounds successful 2024.

The Fever had traveled to Iowa City for a May 4 preseason exhibition, a accidental for Clark to play again successful beforehand of Hawkeye faithful. Jensen, Bluder and a fewer of Clark's erstwhile Iowa teammates watched courtside, her household sitting successful the stands. Her mom, Anne, brought homemade sweets to permission successful the locker room.

As Clark drilled that changeable and provided Hawkeye fans with yet different quintessential Caitlin Clark representation -- adjacent immoderate connected the Fever seat looked similar they couldn't judge what they conscionable saw -- Jensen saw the small kid to whom she'd archetypal offered a assistance successful the seventh grade. The kid who to this time plays hoops with a substance of fun, hazard and joyousness that has captivated fans worldwide.

But the lightness that comes much easy successful the preseason volition soon gaffe away. The spotlight volition blare agleam erstwhile much arsenic Clark faces arguably her highest stakes yet arsenic a pro. When asked astatine media time however she would specify occurrence this summer, Clark responded matter-of-factly: "a championship."

play

1:14

Before They Were Next SC: Caitlin Clark's emergence to stardom

Check retired Caitlin Clark's emergence to stardom from her aboriginal days successful Iowa to go the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year.

That wasn't successful the speech for her arsenic a rookie, joining a squad featuring the longest playoff drought successful the W. But looking to alteration those fortunes, the Fever beforehand bureau turned heads by acquiring DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Howard and Sophie Cunningham successful the offseason.

MORE: Fantasy women's hoops -- Five Fever players to draft

Krauskopf said Clark helped the beforehand bureau enlistee escaped agents successful the wintertime by reaching retired with a substance oregon call, and provided input connected players Indiana was funny in. Being based successful Indianapolis this offseason gave Clark a front-row spot to the franchise's growth, and Cox and Krauskopf said Clark perpetually asks questions astir however the enactment operates and what goes into moving it.

"I ne'er similar to truly comparison astatine all, due to the fact that each subordinate is their ain subordinate and Diana Taurasi is the GOAT," said Cox, who antecedently was a longtime enforcement with the Phoenix Mercury. "The level of concern that [Taurasi] had successful the Mercury, [Clark's involvement successful the Fever] reminds maine of that."

That communal committedness is what Clark and the Fever anticipation volition pb to a title successful the adjacent future. A rubric remains elusive for Clark aft she came up abbreviated successful 2 nationalist title crippled appearances astatine Iowa.

"When you've accomplished everything that you tin execute individually, but you don't person a championship, that's what it's about," said White, who led the Boilermakers to the NCAA rubric successful 1999. "No offense, but we won Big Ten titles astatine Purdue; she won Big Ten titles astatine Iowa. It's the nationalist championship, right? It's the WNBA championship."

No substance however sizable her sophomore leap could be, the WNBA is excessively bully for a subordinate to single-handedly pb a squad to a title. Clark knows that, and it's wherefore the Fever assembled the squad they did. And it's wherefore some subordinate and franchise are hoping Clark's enactment this offseason is simply a difference-maker not conscionable passim the summertime but heavy into the playoffs successful September and October.

"Caitlin wants to win, truthful she's going to bash immoderate it takes to win," Jensen said. "If that means crockery a batch much assists, if that means pullup middies, she's worked connected it all. And she'll bash immoderate it takes for them to get to the apical of the ladder."

ESPN's Michael Voepel contributed to this report.