The Indiana Fever HC Stephanie White shared a different perspective on Caitlin Clark after a poor scoring start in her first game with the Fever in nine months.

Fans finally saw a glimpse of Clark on April 25 against the New York Liberty. Clark played 17 minutes in her first appearance in a Fever uniform since last July, accumulating seven points on two-of-10 shooting from the field and one-of-five from the three-point line, to go along with four assists and three rebounds.

"She was good. You know, I think we play differently when she's on the floor, and so learning how to play with her in the action. I thought she was good," White said of Clark, per an X post from Robin L***berg.

Clark played her first game wearing the Fever uniform since last July, as she was sidelined for the rest of the season due to a series of quad and groin injuries.

Clark performed significantly better when she participated in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers last month.

She bagged the MVP title after averaging 11.6 points, 6.4 assists (highest in the tournament), and 1.6 rebounds, shooting 53% from the floor.

The Fever head coach also pointed this out, arguing that Clark played the two events under extremely different circumstances.

"I mean, if we're talking about the shot making, that's going to come. They play her differently in the W than they do in international basketball. And so we've just got to find ways to free her up and get her some easy looks," White said.

While Stephanie White has made her opinion on Clark's slow start clear, the latter had already decided to treat the preseason games differently after returning from a long hiatus.

Caitlin Clark Does Not Take Preseason for Granted

Clark played just 13 games last season, so she was excited to be back on the court and show the world what they had missed from one of the WNBA's top players.

However, even someone of Clark's stature needs time to adjust after shooting 2 of 10 from the field against the Liberty.

While Clark opined that the preseason is not a "real" game before the Liberty matchup, she wanted to put out her best to grab early momentum for next season.

“This isn't a real game, I understand that, but that's how we treat it like a real game. I think anytime you get to put on your uniform and lace up your shoes, you don’t take that for granted, especially after coming off last year when I didn't get to do that very much.”

But all in all, Fever fans received good news from the first preseason game, as Clark has recovered and is motivated to return to her best this season.

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever face Paige Bueckers and No.1 overall pick Azzi Fudd's Dallas Wings in their next preseason game on April 30.

So, how many points do you think Clark will accumulate against Dallas?

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Written by

Joy Bassy

Edited by

Siddharth Rawat