For all the deep threes, sold-out arenas, and broken records, the photo that stopped WNBA fans in their tracks this weekend wasn’t of Caitlin Clark on a court.

It was a golden retriever lying in a bed of autumn leaves, with a few simple words that absolutely punched you in the chest.

On November 29, 2025, Caitlin Clark used her Instagram story to share the kind of news no box score can prepare you for. Her family’s golden retriever, Bella, her dog of nearly nine years had passed away.

“we are gonna miss you puppy,” she wrote over that fall photo, adding, “gave us so many good memories.” A second slide was somehow even tougher: a side-by-side of teenage Caitlin curled up with Bella as a puppy and a recent photo in the exact same pose. The caption read, “Not much changed in 9 years.” If you’ve followed Clark long enough, you knew immediately this wasn’t just a pet post. This was family.

Bella came into the Clark household around 2016, when Caitlin was still a 14-year-old kid in Des Moines, juggling school and AAU tournaments. From there, Bella was just… always there. Through the high-school hype, through Iowa’s sold-out Carver-Hawkeye nights. Through the whirlwind move to the WNBA and the Indiana Fever.

During the COVID years at Iowa, when arenas were half-empty, and fans were cardboard, Bella still snuck in. Clark’s family would show up with Bella’s face on cutouts, a tiny wink that even in the strangest of seasons, home always followed her into the building.

Over time, fans started to catch on. Bella showed up in family photos, in casual off-day snapshots, and in fan edits calling her Caitlin’s “lucky charm” and “the real MVP of the Clark era.”

So when that quiet IG story went up on Saturday, the replies didn’t read like reactions to a celebrity’s dog. They read like messages for someone who had just lost a piece of their foundation. “Losing a dog is losing family.” “RIP Bella, you were there for all of it.”

In a year where Clark has already had to sit with a lot of tough emotions, this one hit different.

How Bella is already part of Caitlin’s Nike story

The most beautiful part of this? Bella was already literally part of Caitlin Clark’s game. In June 2025, Clark laced up a special player-exclusive Nike Kobe 6 Protro colorway she helped design herself. The name said everything: “The Bellas.”

The shoes were a love letter in sneaker form. A tan-leaning upper that echoed Bella’s golden fur. Soft touches that felt more “home” than “hype.” And on the insole? Bella’s actual picture.

Postgame, Clark explained why she wanted it that way. “Nike asked me what I want to do with the Kobes… my dog is really important to me. It makes it fun when they’re a little more personal.”

She didn’t just wear them. She went off in them. On June 14 against the New York Liberty, in her return from an early-season quad issue, Clark erupted for 32 points, hit seven threes, added 9 assists and 8 rebounds, and led the Fever to a 102–88 win. It was one of the best all-around performances of her pro career.

Rumors of a wider release in 2026 are already out there, but even if they never hit shelves, “The Bellas” have already done what they were supposed to do. They made sure Bella is part of Caitlin’s story forever.

All of this comes at the end of one of the most emotionally exhausting seasons of Caitlin Clark’s life. On paper, her second year in the WNBA should have been a joyride. Another leap. Another set of records. More nightly “did you see what Caitlin just did?” moments. Instead, it turned into a puzzle of what-ifs and rehab sessions.

Her opener on May 17 against the Chicago Sky looked like the season everyone expected  20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals in a blowout win. The full Caitlin Clark package.

Then the injuries started stacking up.

1. Left quad tightness in preseason.
2. A quad sprain that cost her five games.
3. Groin issues. A later bone bruise in her ankle.

By the time the Fever finally ruled her out in early September, Clark had played just 13 games. She still averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.6 steals, numbers most guards would celebrate, but for someone wired like her, it wasn’t close to enough.

Head coach Stephanie White kept the big picture in focus. “Making sure we’re prioritizing her long-term health and wellness is the most important thing.” Clark didn’t hide how much it hurt. “Disappointed isn’t a big enough word… but even in the bad, there is good.”

That sentence lands differently now. Because when you’re already on the sideline, when you’re already sitting with frustration and uncertainty, losing the dog that walked with you through every stage of that journey? That’s a different kind of rehab. There’s no timetable for that.

A little light ahead: USA Basketball and the next chapter

Even in the middle of all this heartbreak, there is one bright page already turning. Just five days before she shared Bella’s passing, on November 24, Caitlin Clark got the kind of call every hooper dreams about: an invitation to her first USA Basketball senior national team training camp.

The camp runs December 12–14 at Duke University, with Kara Lawson leading a group that blends Olympic gold-medal veterans with the game’s next generation. Clark is one of 10 first-timers, sharing the floor with names like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, JuJu Watkins, Lauren Betts, and more, alongside stars like A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Aliyah Boston, and Sabrina Ionescu.

And now, it will also be something else: her first big basketball chapter without Bella physically waiting back home.

Caitlin Clark will be back on the court soon enough in USA colors, in Fever colors, in whatever comes next. The threes will fall again, the assists will stack up, the debates will rage.

But somewhere in all of that, every time she laces up “The Bellas” or thinks back to that puppy on the couch in 2016, she’ll know what so many fans were trying to say to her this weekend:

Losing Bella hurts because she was there for the best of you. And that love doesn’t go away. It just travels with you to whatever’s next.