Ahead of the All-Star Game, coach Sandy Brondello made it pretty clear what we could expect from Caitlin Clark. “You know, I will give that coaching hat to her as much as she wants. To be quite honest… we are going to play around with it a little bit. It will be fun,” she said. And that’s exactly what we saw! Caitlin stepping into a playful sideline role all weekend. She drew up plays, booed her teammates, lost track of the score, and… gained a new fan?
Days ahead of the All-Star weekend, it was confirmed that Caitlin Clark would be missing both the 3-point contest and the main event due to her third injury of the season. This was supposed to be her moment. Her All-Star debut as a captain in front of her home crowd! To make it even more special, she had managed to draft her teammates as well! Everything was perfectly lined up.
But instead, Clark found herself on the sidelines, taking on a new role. Captain Clark quickly became Coach Caitlin, and to her credit, she embraced it fully. After the game, she even posted photos of herself in her coach fit on Instagram, which got an adorable reply from her boyfriend, Connor McCaffery!
The Butler Bulldogs assistant coach would go on to reshare Caitlin’s post on his story with the caption, “Coach CC!!!!!” Even if Clark didn’t have the storybook ending on the coaching debut — losing 151-131 — McCaffery was still all in for the new role. And well, the 23-year-old guard might not have stepped forward to defend what was going to be the highest point total by any team in All-Star history, she was definitely raking in the vibes she was her for.
“We joke about winning, but at the end of the day, it’s not that serious,” she said. “We’re going to have a fun time.” Perhaps that’s the Coach CC that deserves the shoutout. As a coach himself, McCaffery would know.
But this isn’t the first time Caitlin Clark has had to watch from the sidelines this season. She’s already missed 11 games, yet every time, she is there on the sidelines cheering on her teammates and passionately arguing with the officials for every wrong call. Coach Stephanie White even pointed out that this experience could actually help her grow, saying it’ll make her a better player in the long run. Aliyah Boston is already picking out the positives.
“I mean, did we score the ball? I don’t know. But we did get open, so technically the plays worked,” she said, calling Coach Caitlin ‘great’.
That said, when will Clark come back from her latest injury setback? Coach Stephanie White has an update!
Coach White provides a Caitlin Clark injury update
Clark has already missed 11 games this season due to three different injuries. Her latest setback came in a heartbreaking fashion, picking up the injury against the Connecticut Sun with just over 30 seconds left on the clock. It’s not the way anyone pictured her sophomore season going, but that’s been the reality so far. When asked about her status, Coach White shared an update on where things stand.
“Well, I haven’t seen C since the game last night, but you know I think she’s progressing. I think we are continuing to address everything that needs to be addressed. She is going to see some doctors and get more tests run early in the week,” White said. “You know I don’t expect her to be available this Tuesday. So we are just going to take it one day at a time.”
This would mark the 12th game Caitlin would miss due to injury. It’s far from an ideal situation for her and her team. The Fever are 5-6 without Clark this season and are desperately hoping their star player returns as soon as possible. With no definitive timeframe shared by the organization, it could likely be another lengthy stint away from the court for Clark.
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