According to the WNBA’s official website, “WNBA teams must report information concerning player injuries, illnesses, other medical conditions, or rest for all WNBA games. By 5 p.m. local time the day before a game (other than the second day of a back-to-back), teams must designate a participation status and identify a specific injury, illness, other medical condition, or other reason for any player whose participation in the game may be affected for any reason.”

When the Indiana Fever hosted the Portland Fire last Wednesday, none of the above applied to them. Or so we thought! Just two hours before the tip-off, the Fever ruled out Caitlin Clark, intentionally or not, disobeying the rule set by the league.

Interestingly, in their road game today against the Golden State Valkyries, their point guard is already listed as probable. And head coach Stephanie White cleared the air on how the league rules are guiding them and what the diehard Clark fans can expect moving forward.

“The most important thing is that what happened last week, we don’t want that to happen again. Just to make sure that there’s clarity and no issues with league policy, I think that we will (list her as probable),” White told a reporter ahead of the matchup. “You can expect to see it ‘probable’ going forward.”

Caitlin Clark has been having back issues since the beginning of this season. So much so that she needs a spinal brace when sidelined. This is after she is already getting fewer minutes than before. But White’s deduction is also correct.

Indiana received a warning from the WNBA following Caitlin Clark’s late scratch against the Portland Fire earlier in the week. That, in itself, was triggered by the fact that Clark wasn’t mentioned on the injury report and reports mentioned she did not practice on the leading Tuesday.

But realistically, after her second season in the WNBA was already plagued by injuries, Clark understands that all of the decisions the medical team will make moving forward are to secure her future in the team and the league.

“At this point, maybe I’ll need to be listed as soreness on every injury report,” she said on May 22nd. “If I don’t feel a hundred percent confident in my body on game five of the year, I don’t know if that’s really worth it in that scenario. I’m sore. That’s just the reality of it.”

For now, the Fever’s decision to list their star as probable appears to be more precautionary than anything else. They likely want to avoid another situation where they have to break the league’s rules because Clark suddenly needs to sit out. But the bigger question remains — what exactly is going on with her back?

Why Caitlin Clark Keeps Appearing on the Injury Report?

As a rookie in the WNBA, Caitlin Clark wasn’t just known for her role in the Fever or the crown she carried from her Iowa days. It was her availability. In fact, she had never missed a single game since her sophomore year in high school until the second season in the league. And even now, she has been far from 100% healthy. Yet, the Fever superstar has continued playing through lingering back discomfort in the 2026 campaign.

The first signs of this issue showed up during Indiana’s season opener against the Dallas Wings on May 9, when Clark briefly exited the game before returning with a wrap around her back. However, she played it down and revealed that she needed to get her back adjusted because it “gets out of line pretty quickly.”

Since then, the situation has seemingly become more about her maintenance than a serious structural injury. The last thing the Fever franchise wants is for Caitlin Clark to give a deja vu to fans. So they have been closely monitoring her health and are trying not to push her body unnecessarily this early in the season.

“It’s part of maintaining the body. When we’re all really young, we don’t learn proper mechanics, and it doesn’t get exposed until something happens,” White said earlier this season.

“This is going to be an ongoing thing. And not just her. We have multiple players who have gone back − we don’t have the blue tent, but they’re going to go back and get adjusted and make sure that the body’s working.”

However, even with all the issues surrounding her, Clark is currently playing some of the best basketball of her career.

Through her first five games, she is averaging 23.8 points and 9.0 assists while leading one of the WNBA’s most explosive offenses. She has also recorded her 12th career game with at least 20 points and 10 assists, which is the most in WNBA history. Naturally, every injury update surrounding her immediately grabs attention across the league.

For now, though, all signs point toward Caitlin Clark continuing to play while Indiana carefully manages her health.