A superstar of Caitlin Clark’s quality and pedigree enters every game carrying the weight of expectation: a highlight, a record, or a defining moment almost nightly. And while she delivers at an elite level more often than not, that standard doesn’t exist without its own persistent pressure. Clark feels it, and after three years in the league, she has a way of managing it.

Speaking on the 20th April episode of the Post Moves podcast, cohosted by Candace Parker and her Indiana Fever teammate Aliyah Boston, Clark opened up about how she keeps that pressure from becoming consuming.

“I always try to remind myself, like, I’m not going to have it every single night. We all have nights where you struggle, that’s just the game of basketball. It’s not always going to go your way,” Clark said. 

That said, the pressure doesn’t just disappear with a mindset shift. Caitlin Clark still feels it. In fact, as she mentioned, there’s an additional layer of pressure that came with returning from an injury-shortened 2025 season. “I obviously feel it. I want to perform, and obviously being hurt last year, I feel that adds a whole another level for me this year.” 

Pressure, however, is not new territory for Clark. She has been navigating expectations of this magnitude since long before the WNBA. So she’s not about to shy away from it now. As she said, “I’ve felt that all throughout my career, whether I was in college or whether I was now professionally,” she said. “So I don’t think it’s anything you ever shy away from.”

Another source of relief is the quality of those around her. Clark also spoke warmly about what her Indiana Fever teammates mean to her ability to navigate the demands of her role. “I’m lucky enough to have a lot of really great teammates that make my life easy,” she said.

Crucially, she understands that her value to this team is never solely just how many points she scores. “I always try to remind myself that I can always impact the game if I’m not making a shot. Set your teammates up, get your feet in the paint, do whatever you can to make it easier for everybody else,” she said.

And of course, she has done that well so far this season alongside the huge scoring numbers she’s been putting up. In the three games she played, she delivered a total of 36 assists alongside the 97 points she’s scored. She’s definitely not looking like a player, feeling any sort of pressure in these games. And in fact, that elusive “bad night” hasn’t really arrived yet.

And of course, maybe that not-so-good night will eventually come at some point. But with a player of Caitlin Clark’s caliber and quality, you can also be sure that there will be a lot more good nights than bad ones.

Caitlin Clark Reveals the Mental Routine Keeping Her Locked In During WNBA Season

Having the right physical skills, as Caitlin Clark said, is a large part of what gets a player into the WNBA. However, staying in the league and thriving are completely different ball games. Her mind has to be in the right place. Every player in the league is elite physically, which means the mental side of the game often becomes the real separator.

And Clark does quite a number of things to ensure that she gets her mind in the right place. As she said, “I’m very locked in on what we need to do and journal a lot. I have sports psychologists that I work with, like doing everything I can to make sure my mind’s in the right place.”

For her, playing in the WNBA is not quite that easy. So as long as you’re in good physical condition, you also have to be mentally ready to thrive. As she said, “This is a really hard league to play in. It’s, you know, just making sure your mind is right.”

Clark, however, also knows that it’s not quite easy to maintain just the right state of mind. As she said, “sometimes that’s the harder part of it. Like I always tell people this, I feel like shooting is way more mental. Just like your belief that you can make the shot. So, I try to work on my mind as much as I can.”

When the game calls for it, she even takes things even more seriously. As she said, “I try to distance myself from, you know, everything online the best I can. Like, obviously, I’m in the know about a lot of stuff. But like when I get into the heat of the season, like I’m very locked in on what we need to do.”

And of course, considering the level of pressure and scrutiny Clark constantly plays under, that approach is quite understandable. Every game she plays attracts enormous attention both on and off the court. But so far, she has continued to show the kind of composure and mental discipline needed to handle it all.