Caitlin Clark called it a “really cool opportunity” as she prepares to make her Team USA debut at the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in Puerto Rico.

The five ​games between March 11-17 will also mark Clark’s first ‌competitive basketball games in nearly eight months.

That’s when her second WNBA season was cut short by a series of quad, groin and ankle injuries.

Clark took part in her first USA Basketball senior national training camp ‌in ​December and said that she was ⁠100%, but she acknowledged that ⁠this week brings different feelings.

“I don’t want to call it nerves, but excitement to play,” Clark said after practice Monday, per ESPN.

“This is a really cool opportunity. If you ​don’t feel that way, then you probably don’t care enough. Certainly, that’s how I feel about it for myself.

Clark, 24, ⁠is expected to make her Team ⁠USA debut on Wednesday against Senegal.

The qualifiers ​are a prelude to the FIBA World Cup in September, ​with Team USA one of five that have already qualified ‌for the tournament in Berlin.

“This is a different stage,” she said. “You’re not going to come out here and be the star player. That’s not how it’s going to be for USA ⁠Basketball.”

It is Clark's first assignment with the senior national team, and it's the first set of organized games she has played since her sophomore WNBA season was riddled with injuries and eventually cut short.

The Indiana Fever star guard has been sidelined since mid-July with a variety of leg injuries, a right groin injury suffered July 15 followed by a bone bruise on her left ankle that Clark said never allowed her to fully test out how her groin was recovering.

But even before that, she had hurt her left quad and her left groin and just played in just 13 games with the Fever last season, averaging 16.5 points and 8.8 assists.

If she had not missed a game during her rookie campaign.

Clark did most of her rehab and training away from her team.

Earlier this week, she told reporters in Miami that the first USA Basketball camp she participated in in December was a good checkpoint for her.

During that camp, Clark said she was 100% healthy but acknowledged she didn't know how long it would take for her to feel like herself again.

"I feel like I've put myself in the best possible shape I could be in at this point," Clark said Monday.

"The first game is the hardest, but once you get in kind of a flow of things, you figure things out."

The upcoming qualifying tournament will present a significant test of Clark's conditioning and workload, with Team USA scheduled to play five games in just seven days.

Clark's conditioning and workload will be tests, as Team USA is set to play five games in seven days during the qualifying tournament.

"It's similar to the WNBA when you have back-to-backs; you have one day in between," Clark said.

"But [this is] also international competition. That's what I've dealt with in the past, and looking forward, hopefully, at the World Cup, if I'm lucky enough to make the team, it will be the exact same scenario."

"Getting to [play] at this level for my first time back, there's no better way to get tossed into the fire," she continued.

Team USA is chock full of WNBA stars, with 2025 No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and Kiki Iriafen also set to make their senior national team debuts.

Clark discussed the mental aspect of her return, highlighting that the anticipation leading up to games is often the most difficult part.

"The buildup to games is probably the hardest part," she explained, adding that once the game begins, she finds herself in the flow of play.

Her focus is on re-establishing her pre-game routine. She predicts that after the first couple of games, this preparation will become second nature.

On game day, Clark expects to be "hyped up," acknowledging a "little anxious" feeling, but clarifying it will be "in a good way."