Caitlin Clark gets back on the court as Indiana Fever’s superstar begins training camp with her new team

Caitlin Clark has turned her focus back to basketball as she quickly rose to fame over the past two years as training camp is now open for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

As the newest member of the team, Clark is learning how to fit into a new offensive system, building chemistry with her new teammates and learning the nuances of what it means to be the league’s most prominent newcomer.

Sure, Clark expects some bumps this season; she expected nothing less. But giving her full attention to the sport she loves is really all Clark ever wanted.

“I think that’s what I was most excited about, getting all that stuff out of the way,” the former Iowa star said Sunday on Day 1 of training camp in Indiana. “The draft was great, New York City was great, Los Angeles was great, but I was excited to come here and play basketball again, you know, and do my job.”

Over the past two seasons, these WNBA rookies have created the kind of buzz around women’s basketball that most fans could only dream of, and Clark is undisputed at the head of the class.

She was excited to return to basketball after a busy month of traveling and being drafted

Clark (center left) in practice with teammates including Erica Wheeler (center) in Indianapolis

The former Iowa guard took part in scrimmages as she prepared for the demands of the WNBA

Ticket sales increased at every venue she appeared and when Clark’s matches were televised, ratings skyrocketed. Her quest for a career record in Division I captivated basketball fans across America, and she even appeared on “Saturday Night Live.”

Perhaps even more fitting, the transition from established stars to newcomers like Clark officially began on the same day that another groundbreaking artist, Candace Parker, announced her retirement.

But like Parker, Clark starts this season with one main goal: winning games.

“I think whatever happens, there will be expectations and pressure on my shoulders and this team will be really good. That’s how you want it,” Clark said. ‘We wouldn’t want anything else. We want people to come to our games, people expect us to win a lot of basketball games this year and I expect myself to play very well. I don’t think it’s anything that’s ever been different for me.”

That kind of talk is certainly new for the Fever.

Indiana hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2016, hasn’t posted a winning season since 2015 and has been largely irrelevant nationally since the retirement of Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings. Over the past five seasons, the Fever have won 28 games.

Iowa, meanwhile, went 65-12 and earned two national runner-up finishes in Clark’s final two college seasons.

But the combination of Clark and Aliyah Boston, the WNBA’s unanimous rookie of the year last season, has made Indiana one of the hottest tickets in the league.

Several opponents have already moved games to larger arenas and Boston, for one, is curious to see how quickly Indiana’s new lineup will come together. Clark arrived in town early this past week and has been turning heads with her workouts ever since.

“I think Caitlin has a different eye for the game. You can see how well she passes the ball and how well she shoots,” Boston said. “You see her communicating, you see the way she can find you, I mean her steps are amazing. I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m just getting a text, let me go down,’ just because of how well she’s pulling through.”

Clark’s transition from college ball to the pro level could also accelerate.

For most of the two-and-a-half-hour practice open to the media, Clark worked with Indiana’s starters and true to form, Clark lined up one three-pointer after another, including some of those signature 3s.

The Fever will blossom through the combination of Clark and Aliyah Boston (r)

Still, it was Clark’s crisp passing that surprised teammates and even second-year coach Christie Sides.

“Her ability to open the floor for us is just incredible,” Sides said. “We have five players on the field who can shoot, but her passing ability, you saw some of the passes she made. I’m even angrier about the number of missed layups we had. I think we’re just not used to that, someone who can make those steps.’

Clark can and will make them, and how the Fever responds to her presence will largely determine how successful Indiana will be this season.

But the key for Clark will be to quickly get used to a new team, a new home and a new style of play before Friday’s season opener in Dallas.

“It’s definitely different, but that’s what you expect when you start a new chapter in your life,” she said. “It’s a fast, fast shot clock, but I think you all know that’s how much I love to play. So I think it suits my game pretty well. It’s a fast pace, much faster than college, and you have to learn faster because you have to get your thoughts together on Fridays.”