There is a stark possibility that Caitlin Clark might have to face that her right groin injury might never heal. Lisa Leslie, the two-time WNBA champion, experienced with groin strains, mentioned in July, “I play tennis and I can still feel that injury linger because I don’t know that it ever really goes away. You just learn how to manage and play with it.” That is a dark future Indiana Fever fans want to avoid. In Clark’s way back to full fitness, there is a possibility of Unrivaled being a stop, but things are more complicated than ever. 

Clark passed on the opportunity last year to take a well-deserved break. The transition from Iowa to the Indiana Fever happened within a few weeks. After an intense 2024 season, she opted for an offseason without any competitive action. However, regarding how she spent her offseason, she said, “I was in the gym a lot — don’t think people would be surprised about that.” Now that the 2026 offseason is round the corner, Unrivaled is still open for Clark to join in. 

While taking a measured approach to signing Clark, Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell said via Sports Business Journal, “Do I think she should play this offseason? Yeah, I do think she should play somewhere. Obviously, we’d love to have her, but that’s a personal decision that her team, her family will go through.” 

The league could even offer Clark beyond the reported $1 million offer and the equity stake, as it has recently closed a series B investment round valuing the league at $340 million. As we saw last year, for Clark, the money makes little difference, and her injury situation makes things more difficult.

She’s grinding through a five-injury gauntlet: dual quad strains, a groin issue on each side, plus an ankle bone bruise picked up while rehabbing that latest groin setback. In addition, this is the first time Clark is going through something like this, and it is impacting her recovery. 

“I’ve never been through anything like this, and I think that’s probably why it’s been so hard. I’ve never really dealt with injury, and that’s probably been a challenge in itself because when I first was feeling pain, I didn’t understand it.” Clark said in her interview with Sue Bird on August 8. On top of that, her groin issues are stretching the timeline of her recovery process, like Jesse Morse, MD wrote in July 15, “The tricky part about groin strains is they are a very slow-healing tissue, easy to reinjure, and constantly required for anything involving the legs.”

Fortunately, Clark has time before Unrivaled arrives. The season is likely to begin in January 2026, which could arrive at an ideal time when Clark needs competitive basketball to get back to fitness. Like Bazzel further said, “You can get those reps [playing 3-on-3] without the pressure of having it all condensed and having no spacing, which can become frustrating as a player. So that’s number one.

He further elaborated, saying, “Number two, because of that, it builds your confidence…and then the last thing is you’re getting all these reps without the workload of a long five-on-five game or playing a full season of 20 to 30 games.” So there is a possibility that Clark might turn up in the league. However, things remain dicey and because of her multiple injuries, the preparation for the 2026 WNBA season will likely remain her priority. But what if she DOES join Unrivaled? 

Caitlin Clark to Unrivaled Would Turn Up the Heat on the WNBA

The WNBA and the Unrivaled are in a gray situation. Cathy Engelbert had some positive intent in the 2023 All-Star when Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart were in the process of building the league. “We’d like to certainly support what Napheesa and Stewie are doing from a marketing-specific perspective and see what they can put together [and] how they’re thinking about it,” Engelbert had said. 

The WNBA commissioner even toured Unrivaled’s Miami facility and attended games in February. When it came to actually putting money where their mouth is, the WNBA did not put their hands up, even in the second round, and answer whether their franchises are permitted to invest.

“We went to the WNBA early,” Bazzell said. “Number one, told them about it and were certainly open to a partnership in terms of equity and ownership. It’s really, to draw the comparison, like what’s gone on between the TGL and the PGA. That’s how we looked at it and approached it. We would be the majority investors in control, but they still have upside and skin in the game with women’s basketball year-round. They chose not to do that.”

Unrivaled shelled out an average of about $220,000 per player last season, topping typical WNBA pay, and Paige Bueckers’ three-year deal reportedly starts with a first-year check larger than her entire rookie-scale WNBA contract (four-years, $348,198). The new CBA terms might change that, but it could also bring stringent rules on offseason participation, insurance, and scheduling for Unrivaled and its players, causing more friction. If you add Caitlin Clark to the roster along with Bueckers and Angel Reese, that amount of star power might force the WNBA back on the table and thus secure its future.