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Caitlin Clark returned to the Indiana Fever as a world champion Wednesday. She was also apparently one wardrobe decision away from returning in her pajamas.
Indiana posted a video on social media of Clark and Aliyah Boston arriving back at the team's practice facility following Team USA's FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup championship.
Their teammates were waiting for them. Clark and Boston walked into a room filled with smiles, hugs and high-fives as the Fever welcomed their two gold medalists home.
"We missed ya AB and CC," the team wrote.
Clark noticed something else.
"I'm so lucky I didn't have my pajamas on omg," Clark commented on the Fever's Instagram post.
The Fever also shared the welcome-back moment on X:
It's difficult to imagine a more Caitlin Clark way to transition from winning a world championship back into the WNBA season.
Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston return with gold medals
The Fever sent several important members of their organization to Germany.
Clark and Boston represented Team USA on the floor, while Indiana coach Stephanie White was also part of Kara Lawson's staff. All three came home with gold medals.
Team USA went undefeated and defeated France 97-79 in the championship game. Clark averaged 7.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists over six games and finished with a tournament-high 32 assists. She saved one of her better scoring performances for the final, putting up 12 points in only 13 minutes.
Boston also contributed throughout the tournament before returning to a Fever team with championship aspirations of its own. That's what made Wednesday's reunion more than simply a fun social-media moment. Indiana is getting two of its most important players back with the playoffs right around the corner.
And the schedule won't provide much time to settle back in.
MORE: Former Fever player sends two-word message to Caitlin Clark after World Cup win
Fever have four games left before WNBA playoffs
Indiana returns to action Friday on the road against the Toronto Tempo. The Fever have only four games remaining in the regular season, meaning Clark will quickly go from playing a supporting role on an extraordinarily deep Team USA roster back to being the centerpiece of Indiana's offense.
Before the World Cup break, Clark was averaging 22.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. She also entered the break in spectacular form, scoring 34 points and handing out 12 assists in a 111-91 victory over Connecticut.
Now the question becomes how quickly Clark, Boston and White can flip the switch from Team USA back to Indiana. Chemistry certainly doesn't appear to be a concern.
Wednesday's video showed just how happy the Fever were to have Clark and Boston back in the building. It also produced another classic Clark social-media moment.
She returned to Indiana with a World Cup gold medal around her neck. Apparently, the Fever were lucky she returned dressed for the cameras, too.
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