Caitlin Clark’s “welcome to the WNBA moment” was fairly painful.
The Fever guard, who was chosen by Indiana with the No. 1 choose within the 2024 WNBA Draft, recalled rupturing her eardrum when she was hit on a tough display throughout a blowout loss to the Liberty on June 2.
“Somebody set a screen on me and I hit my ear just perfect on the girl where my eardrum popped and it ruptured,” Clark, 22, stated Thursday on the most recent installment of brothers Jason and Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast. “I knew it right away because I’ve done it before [while tubing in a lake]. It hurts so bad … That was my welcome to the W moment.”
Clark added that her ear didn’t bleed when it occurred and that her listening to was off for a couple of weeks.
“It takes months to heal,” Clark stated. “So after the season, the doctor had to go back and look and see if it closed, and if it doesn’t close you have to have a minor procedure. But lucky enough it didn’t close, so I was fine.”
Clark suffered the damage through the fourth quarter of the Fever’s 104-68 loss to the Liberty at Barclays Middle in Brooklyn.
She was checked out on the bench by Fever coach Todd Champlin earlier than they walked again to the locker room.
Clark got here again out to the bench however she didn’t re-enter the sport.
The damage didn’t trigger her to overlook time.
Within the days following the damage, Clark advised reporters she was having bother listening to however didn’t share particulars concerning the damage.
“I don’t wanna explain it, it’d probably be pretty gross, but no, I feel fine. I can’t hear great out of one of my ears,” she stated on the time.
Michelle Farsi/New York Submit
Clark — the NCAA’s all-time Division 1 chief in scoring for women and men — beforehand mentioned adjusting to the physicality on the WNBA stage.
The Nike athlete went on to be named a WNBA All-Star and the 2024 Rookie of the 12 months.
