Fans have been counting down to Caitlin Clark’s comeback, but the wait keeps dragging on with no official word from the Fever. That silence left room for speculation, and even ESPN jumped in, pegging her return for August 26. But as that date looms, ESPN quietly pushed the estimate back, only to face backlash from a Fever insider calling those projections “erroneous.”

The buzz started on ESPN’s August 12 broadcast of Fever vs. Wings, when play-by-play voice Ryan Ruocco floated the idea that Clark might return during Indiana’s August 26 home game against Seattle. He based it on head coach Stephanie White’s optimism that Clark could rejoin practice after a week off and, with a few full sessions, get back on the court. That never happened. The “week off” came and went, and then came another twist: an August 20 report revealed Clark also suffered a minor ankle bone bruise earlier this month during an individual workout, on top of her lingering right groin injury from July 15. While it’s unclear if that setback slowed her progress, ESPN’s injury report didn’t wait for clarification; it simply shifted Clark’s projected return to September 2. That would place her comeback during a West Coast road trip against Phoenix—an unlikely spot, considering the Fever return home to face Chicago just three days later.

Fever reporter Scott Agness didn’t hold back, using his YouTube channel to debunk the ESPN projections and warn fans against trusting those dates: “I’ll use this opportunity to debunk something that I think erroneously misled Fever and Caitlin fans. There’s this, I became aware of it because of this. There’s this like ESPN injury tracker that was estimating when Caitlin returns that comes from like a third-party data site. It was not from the team. It was not from any of us reporters boots on the ground. We were befuddled. “I think it was purely guesses. It was like, ‘Hey, look, August 15 sounds nice. She’s day-to-day.’”

The third-party data site in question is RotoWire. If you look closely at that WNBA Injuries tracker page, it is written in the bottom left-hand corner, “Data Provided by Rotowire.” While the page provides sources of actual reports in the comment section of the page, a lot of the time, there is no return date in the reports. This means the system generates estimates using various factors through computer algorithms.

However, these computer-generated reports are often proven wrong, as in Clark’s case, because they lack knowledge of the actual situation with the player, her medical reports, management’s feelings, or how they intend to approach her recovery. There are factors beyond just data affecting that return date. Agness further appealed to the fans not to completely trust the tracker. 

He further said, “Ignore all that because there was nothing legitimate about that. Nothing changed. Nothing was altered. Nothing happened to push back anything. That was just erroneous. So, ignore all that. Don’t use that as guidance whatsoever. I think that misled people in this conversation.”

It’s better to face uncertainty than to be misled by false information. Clark’s condition and the actual reports around her have been consistent. Her ‘weird’ injury means she can’t have a proper return date until she actually starts practicing. “Until she can get into practice, and until you guys see her in practice, it’s really status quo, same as we have been,” White said. On top of her right groin injury, Clark is also nursing an unfortunate minor bone bruise in her ankle, making things more complicated. 

Caitlin Clark’s New Injury Threatens to Complicate the Situation

The ankle bruise might sound minor, but it makes a tricky recovery even more complicated. Unlike a sprain, a bone bruise doesn’t show up easily, takes longer to heal, and can’t be rushed—put too much stress on it too soon, and it risks turning into a fracture. That means even if Clark feels fine, the Fever can’t afford to gamble with her long-term health just to get her back on the floor.

Clark has always been casual about ankle tweaks. Last season, she rolled one against the Connecticut Sun, needed help to the locker room, then stormed back to drop 17 points and five assists. “Every basketball player has an ankle injury,” she said at the time. “If you don’t, you’re not a true baller. It’ll be stiff, but I’ll be good.” She even joked, “You’re not a true basketball player if you haven’t sprained your ankles a bunch.”

But this time is different. A bone bruise is sneaky—it could have been lingering for weeks before hurting enough to warrant an MRI. And considering Clark’s tendency to play through pain, that’s entirely possible. For the Fever, that means an even greater need for caution. One wrong step could mean something far worse than a delayed return.

With that in mind, Indiana still hopes she’ll suit up again this season. But given the setbacks and the uncertainty around when she can practice, shelving Clark for the rest of the year is starting to feel like a real possibility.