Fever make Caitlin Clark contract decision before new WNBA season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Caitlin Clark has received some important news about her contract.
The Indiana Fever's star point guard has a point to prove in 2026. After a dazzling rookie season in 2024, Clark missed most of 2025 dealing with injuries. Now healthy again, Clark is being challenged to return to her previous heights and steer the Fever into the WNBA Finals. No pressure.
And even though her various injuries limited her to 13 games last season, Clark has not lost the Fever's faith and trust in her abilities.
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Though the move had always been considered a formality, the Fever late Tuesday went ahead and picked up the fourth-year option on Clark's rookie-scale contract.
In an unsurprising, yet necessary move for the Fever, they have exercised Caitlin Clark’s fourth-year option. She is now officially under contract through 2027.Under EPIC, Clark will also be able to renegotiate her fourth-year salary and add an extension.
By picking up Clark's option, the Fever have ensured that the 24-year-old is under contract through 2027. But as someone whose performance falls within the new collective bargaining agreement's Exceptional Performance on Initial Contract -- or EPIC -- provision, Clark now has the ability to negotiate a higher salary for next season, as well as a contract extension at a max salary that would secure her future in Indiana.
The Fever already have experience negotiating a contract extension centered on the EPIC clause.
Earlier this month, Indiana inked All-Star big Aliyah Boston to a four-year, $6.3 million extension that represents the largest total deal value in WNBA history. Boston was eligible for the lucrative new contract after she garnered All-WNBA second team honors in 2025; Clark is eligible after she was named first-team All-WNBA in 2024.
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