The Caitlin Clark story is finally back where it belongs – basketball. After veering off to TIME magazine honors and her impact on the game and the WNBA as a whole, and inviting numerous controversial opinions in the process, the Indiana Fever has made a determined effort to concentrate on the sport that made her famous. And it looks like CC is getting serious with her physicality.
If you know Caitlin Clark, you know her logo threes. But more attention on her means more physical plays – remember the number of fouls that were thrown her way in 2024. Well, in a video posted by the Indiana Fever on their socials, No. 22 can be seen practicing different aspects of her game. Commenting on that, Rachel DeMita says in her latest YouTube video, “I noticed here that coaches here are giving her – not pushing her – but giving her some physicality.”
“That is something that a lot of people have also been talking about online with Caitlin Clark. It seems like she has already gotten a little bit bulkier since the end of the season.” It’s not the first time that the Fever guard would be making use of the weight room, as she had said something similar after the Olympic break. One month away from the court had allowed Clark time to hit the weight room and bulk up a little.
Nevertheless, DeMita discusses other possible reasons for her looking a bit more bulky, and one may be that she has not stopped playing since her senior year of college, aka Nov. 2023. “Now I don’t know if that’s because she has been straight in the weight room getting her reps in or it’s the fact that she played an entire NBA season with college and her first WNBA season and she pretty much played like 40 minutes a game.”
“So I don’t know if that was just her losing weight because she was playing so much or if she’s actually bulking up but she does look really strong,” DeMita says. Per Sports Illustrated, Clark seems to be working on her handles, off-balance finishing, midrange shots, screen navigation, and of course her three-pointers.
With 12 teams and 12 players, 144 players in the league – or rather 132 confirmed active players and 131 not counting CC – every team will have to be on a lookout for her, DeMita points out.
“I think it’s going to be very hard to guard her if she masters her touch at the basket. Her floater game, her mid-range game, and also the long threes that everyone knows and loves,” the analyst concludes. A change in her physicality is something that has been a long time coming and was something Clark even worked on in Iowa.
Caitlin Clark put on 8 pounds in senior year at Iowa
Coming into her senior year with the Hawkeyes was different because suddenly every eye was on Caitlin Clark. Opposite team players would target her more and the Des Moines native knew how other players being physical with her would hinder her. And the refs would not always call it, so change was required.
In a 2023 interview with Business Insider, Iowa’s associate strength and conditioning coach Lindsay Alexander, “Obviously she’s a one-of-a-kind basketball player, but the thing is, she’s not a one-of-a-kind person in the weight room. She has this very high skill set in basketball, but her physical development could really be improved.”
Well, with this change in progress, looks like 2025 will be decidedly different for the Fever guard and the entire Indiana team. Caitlin Clark is certainly the main attraction and she’s just getting an upgrade in the offseason!
