For Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White, having Caitlin Clark at her disposal is kind of a trump card she can deploy with ease, but it also comes with an asterisk. It’s no surprise that CC is one of the hottest prospects in the league, whose performance can literally alter league standings and even title-contending conversations at times. Thus, with such a large section of the community rooting for her, the pressure also falls on the coaches on how they approach her. White, Clark’s current coach at Fever, recently shared her two cents on the matter.

Speaking in an interview with ESPN, the Fever head coach shed light on this, initially lauding Clark before stating that a player like Clark challenges coaches to be better and to make strides towards success.

“I think it’s a blessing,” White said. “It’s an opportunity. She challenges me every day to be better. I mean, her skill set is elite. Her basketball mind is elite. She challenges us as coaches to be better, and it challenges us to put our team in positions for success and allow her to do what she does best. I don’t think it’s pressure.”

“I think great players want to be around great players, right, and great coaches want to be around great players, and they challenge you in a different way,” she added further. “And I’m a basketball junkie, so watching games to try and find different ways that we can get her easier looks is an outstanding challenge and she wants to be coaches and wants to be the best, and she wants to be pushed.”

White and Clark have gotten along pretty well ever since the former’s arrival on the Indiana Fever shores last season. Clark missed most of the season due to a groin injury last year and didn’t have much time to reflect on her on-court endeavors. Yet despite that, we’ve seen their chemistry develop in the Fever’s training camp this season, with White consistently pushing Clark to develop as a locker-room leader.

Now, there shouldn’t be any doubt that having a player like Caitlin Clark is a silver lining for any basketball coach. And as White said, it’s the same for her. The performances she pulls off on the court definitely factor in that regard. But even more than that, the work ethic that she puts in on the court to improve herself on every rep in practice is something that has prompted White to take note even more.

During a conversation last year, the Fever head coach shed light on this regard. “With Caitlin, you know she’s hard working because of what she’s been able to accomplish, but until you see it … there’s no wasted movements, no wasted reps, no wasted anything. You have such a level of respect for how she goes about her work every day,” White had said.

But the entirety of it comes with scrutiny at times as well, and the pressure of approaching with Clark in the games stays prevalent. Being the head coach of the team, the responsibility to use Clark on the court in a substantial way obviously falls on Stephanie White’s shoulders. And as a result, even if a single error occurs in that regard, be it in the Fever’s on-court production or injury, Clark’s huge fanbase doesn’t hesitate to lash out at White.

We saw it last season when White faced flak for not managing Caitlin Clark’s injury and for letting her play a couple of games through it, which eventually led to a season-ending injury. Even this season, we’ve seen a lot of dissent around White after sentiments emerged that White and the Fever are looking to use Clark in more of an off-the-ball role, rather than the first-hand ball-handler role she often takes on for the team.

While Clark is quite at ease with her role, which she describes as helping the team avoid becoming too predictable, it didn’t sit well with fans. Some of them even raised chants like, “That’s bulls***, and she knows it… Get Steph White out.” This perfectly adds weight to the narrow line that Stephanie White always has to walk on while working with high-profile players like Clark.

But as White mentioned, for her, it isn’t pressure. Rather, it’s just a blessing to have a player like Clark looking after her shoulders. With the regular WNBA season at the doorstep, we’ll definitely get to see more of this duo in the coming months. But before that, White has made an important assessment that might actually shed light on what she wants from Clark on the court in this upcoming season.

Stephanie White Comes Clean on Caitlin Clark’s Off-the-Ball Role This Season

For a player like Clark, who averages over 8 assists per game with ease, it’s only certain that most coaches won’t think of shifting her to a different role. But then again, most coaches aren’t Stephanie White. In an interview with ESPN, White shared a clear explanation of why she wants to see Clark play an off-the-ball role at times on the court, not just drive the ball and dominate defenders in transition.

“I just think the way Caitlin gets played, it’s unique. I mean, it’s 94 feet, and it’s all the time. And for us to be able to free her up a bit, we play her off the ball,” she said. “Now, does that mean she’s not going to have the ball in her hands? No. Does that mean she’s going to play off the ball every single possession? No. But when we have opportunities to be strategic about ways to ease the load on her body and, quite frankly, on her mind…we got to do that.”

White’s assessment also reflects how we saw Caitlin Clark in the preseason games, where she emphasized off-ball movements. But even then, she scored 33 points in the final two preseason games. And also recorded north of 66% from scoring beyond the arc in these games. So, the bottom line for Clark’s role this season is that White isn’t deviating from Clark entirely in her playmaker or ball handler role.

But it is looking to just free her up at times on the court, because carrying the ball against defenders on every sequence of play can be “exhausting,” as Clark had mentioned earlier. So, being able to ease up a bit, especially after an injury-laden last season, might enhance her long-term tangibility. While the strategies worked out quite well in the preseason, it will be interesting to see how they fare in their first regular-season game against a Paige Bueckers-led Dallas Wings on May 9. Keep the predictions rolling.