Caitlin Clark was ruled out of the Indiana Fever’s game against the Portland Fire on Wednesday night because of a back issue.

Fever coach Stephanie White said Clark woke up with stiffness and soreness in her back ahead of the matchup.

“It’s not the time to take a chance. We just really want to be cautious”, White said.

She added that Clark’s absence was not related to load management and said the team does not currently expect the issue to become long term.

“She's healthy. We're not managing anything. This is just a back issue that we want to make sure we give the time to be ready,” she said.

Clark missed practice on Tuesday and instead underwent treatment before doing individual workouts.

The 2024 number one draft pick is returning from an injury-hit previous season in which she played only 13 games.

Earlier this month, Clark revealed that her back “gets out of line pretty quickly” after leaving a game briefly for treatment before returning to the court.

“That moment where my back tightened up, I think I almost got confidence from that because I came back in and I played eight more minutes, so I felt great,” Clark said last week.