It started with a missed three from the left wing—open, in rhythm, and the kind Clark usually knocks down in her sleep. Then came another, this time from the top of the arc, clanking hard off the back iron. By the end of the first half against the New York Liberty, Caitlin Clark had missed her first 7 three-point attempts, and what seemed like a cold start began to look like something deeper. Plus, it wasn’t just the shots that were off. Her timing looked disrupted, her spacing uncertain, and her usual assertiveness was turning into hesitancy. By the time she finally hit a three with just over a minute left in the third quarter, it felt like a minor breakthrough, not a comeback. But the damage was already done. 

Throughout the game, Clark appeared caught between roles. Head coach Stephanie White had been testing out playing her off the ball to reduce the defensive pressure she’s constantly under—but against a disciplined Liberty team, the new plan was a recipe for chaos. Clark wasn’t orchestrating the offense in the way she naturally thrives. Instead, she was hovering, reacting rather than initiating, often stationed in the corners or beyond the arc as plays developed without her touch. And when she did get the ball? Natasha Cloud, one of the league’s premier defenders, was glued to her hip, forcing her into contested passes and hasty decisions. The result: 10 turnovers, many of them unforced, and the kind of visible frustration that’s rare for the usually composed 23-year-old.

Yet despite all of this, Clark still posted a double-double—18 points and 10 assists, a testament to her baseline brilliance. But numbers alone can’t explain what unfolded on that court still. Her three-point shots weren’t just missing—they were missing badly, hitting the opposite side of the rim or sailing long, far from the marksmanship she’s known for. Add to that a 0-of-5 outing from deep in the previous game against the Dream, and suddenly you have a 12-miss streak from one of the WNBA’s most prolific shooters. In isolation, that might not raise alarms. But back-to-back games like this? On this stage? With this much expectation? That’s when people start to talk—and Rachel DeMita certainly did.

“She was missing these threes like we haven’t seen her miss threes, like bricks off the opposite side of the rim. So I don’t know if it was mental. I don’t know if she just had a cold streak” she said. “It happens with shooters. Like once you get cold and once you get cold for that long, it starts to get mental and you could definitely see it in her body language,” DeMita said.

With the season gearing up to be highly competitive, Clark must snap out of it quickly. “She has to find a way [out of the slump]. I also would turn to the coaches for this as well, because they also need to figure out what buttons to push with her to help her snap out of it,” 

While acknowledging Clark’s leadership status despite her rookie status, DeMita underlined just how crucial it is for the Fever coaching staff to support her through the slump. “Even though she is only in her sophomore season, she is a leader for this Indiana Fever team and so it was a little bit disheartening to me because I could see it on her body language how down she was getting and she has to find a way even if she’s not making shots to make sure that she stays composed and stays in the game the best that she possibly can.”

The analyst pointed to a moment in the game that revealed the emotional toll Clark’s slump was taking—and just how much the crowd was invested in her comeback. Still, DeMita praised Clark for continuing to shoot despite her cold spell—a critical mindset for any elite scorer. “Now I do want to say that I’m proud of her for continuing to shoot because as a shooter you have to keep shooting. One of them is going to fall. You can’t let it get in your head so much that you’re scared to shoot because once you do that it starts to become a true mental block.”

That said, the responsibility wasn’t Clark’s alone. DeMita didn’t hold back when dissecting head coach Stephanie White’s tactical decisions, especially around Clark’s usage off the ball. “One of the things that I also think threw her off is Coach Stephanie White continues to play Caitlin off the ball and it seems like she starts playing Caitlin off the ball when Caitlin is getting faceguarded or when the defense is becoming more physical with her. I still don’t get it because we saw last season that that just doesn’t work and Caitlin to me seems like the type of player she needs to have the ball in her hands to get a feel for it and when she’s not taking up the ball, when she’s not running the offense herself, I could theorize that that might have been part of the reason that she just felt cold and she wasn’t able to get into rhythm.”

And she didn’t stop there. With the Fever just a few games into the season, DeMita called for urgent recalibration from the bench.“I don’t understand at this point in time. I know we’re only four games in. I know it’s still early in the season. But I don’t understand why Coach Steph has her on the ball sometimes, off the ball sometimes, when last season that just proved to not work.”

Drawing from Clark’s college playstyle, she closed out her critique by arguing for a system built around Clark’s strengths. The one in which CC had the ball in her hands most of the time, ran the offense, and still had her teammates involved. 

Anyway, it is most probably a phase because Clark is undoubtedly one of the best shooters in the league, and it won’t be too long before she figures out what’s throwing her shot off. But as DeMita indicated, White might want to introspect as well.

Clark’s better as the conductor

As Coach White had discussed in the offseason, she has been experimenting with playing Clark off the ball in order to take the defensive pressure off of her. But in their game against the NY Liberty, the game plan backfired as it threw Clark off her rhythm. While versatility is a prized asset in any WNBA player, and Caitlin Clark certainly possesses the shooting prowess to be effective off the ball, Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White needs to realize that Clark feels a lot more comfortable when she has the ball in her hands. As has been evident since her time at Iowa.

Clark’s primary strength lies in her extraordinary court vision and her innate ability to manipulate defenses with the ball in her hands. We saw this repeatedly in her rookie season. Her league-leading assist numbers in 2024, averaging 8.4 assists per game, weren’t just a product of good passing; they were a testament to her capacity to read multiple defensive layers, anticipate rotations, and deliver pinpoint passes to teammates in tight windows. Clark’s scoring is historic, but her playmaking is what truly elevates the entire team.

The offensive gravity that comes along with a scorer like Clark is another critical factor. Her limitless range forces defenses to engage her the second she crosses half-court, which creates immense space for teammates to cut and drive. This defensive distortion is most effective when she has the ball, as she presents a live threat to pass, drive, or shoot at any moment. When she is orchestrating the offense, she is not just a scorer but an engine who can dissect a defense with her decision-making.