INDIANAPOLIS — On a weekend with the Indianapolis 500 qualifying on the town and the Pacers making ready for the Jap Convention finals, the Indiana Fever’s season opener took a backseat to nobody.
Final season, Caitlin Clark took the WNBA by storm and helped the Fever snap a seven-year playoff drought.
After an aggressive offseason centered on supplementing the star energy of Clark and Aliyah Boston, the Fever entered 2025 considering a lot greater.
“My expectation is for us to attempt to win a championship,” Clark informed media members earlier than Indiana’s opener towards the Chicago Sky. “However once I take the court docket, that is not what I am enthusiastic about. It is what can we do each single possession to win the sport.”
Indiana then torched the Sky 93-58, and Clark had a triple-double. Led by Stephanie White, in her second stint as coach, the Fever had an ideal begin to the 2025 season.
Per week later, they took the undefeated, defending champion New York Liberty to the ultimate seconds earlier than falling 90-88. After going 1-3 towards the Liberty final season, together with two blowout losses, the Fever now appeared like they had been on extra frequent floor and led by 12 at one level. It was the type of recreation that seemingly validated the crew’s championship discuss and offseason makeover.
However issues rapidly obtained much more difficult.
Clark, the 2024 No. 1 draft decide and WNBA Rookie of the Yr, was sidelined Might 26 by a left quad pressure, the primary time in her professional or school careers she has missed any video games. The Fever are 4-5 general, 2-3 with out her. They hope she may return Saturday once they once more host the Liberty (ABC, 3 p.m. ET).
“Because the begin of the season, Steph has informed us that issues aren’t going to be good and never all the things goes to go the best way we predict,” Fever ahead Aliyah Boston informed ESPN. “It’s important to be able to face no matter occurs.”
With Clark on the court docket, the Fever appeared like contenders. However Indiana’s ups and downs within the first month additionally present the issue translating potential to elevating a trophy. And even with consecutive No. 1 picks Boston and Clark, the championship window is extra fast than one may assume.
“The margin for error if you’re speaking about enjoying championship-caliber groups is so small,” White stated.
In Clark, the Fever have one of the crucial common athletes within the nation, a participant with the ability and charisma to garner a nonstop highlight that has unfold to your entire group. The Fever have tried to encompass her as rapidly as potential with the fitting solid.
“Caitlin’s a participant that proper now has essentially the most expertise round her that she’s ever had,” White added. “Our job as coaches is how we work out find out how to put us in place to be one of the best crew that we may be.”
THE FEVER WERE as soon as a perennial playoff crew, reaching 12 consecutive postseasons from 2005 to 2016 and successful the 2012 WNBA title. In 2022, they gained a program-worst 5 video games as their playoff drought stretched on. However with the primary decide within the 2023 draft, Indiana chosen Boston, who went on to win rookie of the yr.
Now, regardless of how younger their stars are, the Fever are on the clock. Some groups in skilled sports activities ascend to the highest with lengthy builds, however a typical mentality amongst possession and entrance places of work now could be to take an opportunity when it presents itself.
The precedents within the WNBA are the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces. The Storm had back-to-back No. 1 picks in 2001 (Lauren Jackson) and 2002 (Sue Fowl), then gained a championship in 2004. They had been nonetheless collectively for a 2010 title.
Then it occurred once more for the Storm with Jewell Loyd in 2015 and Breanna Stewart in 2016, adopted by a championship in 2018. The Storm gained once more in 2020.
Las Vegas had three consecutive No. 1 picks: Kelsey Plum (2017, when the franchise was nonetheless in San Antonio), A’ja Wilson in 2018 and Jackie Younger in 2019. The Aces reached the 2020 Finals after which gained the 2022 and 2023 championships.
The Fever’s 20-20 report in 2024 was proof their championship window was open. In got here a revamped mind belief — coach, basic supervisor and president — for 2025.
They prioritized the return of the longest-tenured Fever participant, free agent guard Kelsey Mitchell. For offseason additions, the Fever focused gamers with loads of playoff expertise: forwards DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard and guards Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson.
“Final yr, our purpose was getting again to the playoffs,” Clark stated. “This yr, our entrance workplace made loads of actually nice modifications to have the ability to put this roster collectively and assemble a crew that may win now — if we do all the things the fitting means.”
Howard was the No. 5 decide by the Fever within the 2014 draft; she spent two seasons in Indiana, together with competing within the 2015 WNBA Finals. Since then, she has performed for Minnesota, Seattle, New York and Dallas, successful championships with the Lynx (2017) and Storm (2018, 2020).
Howard, ending a cup of ice cream after observe, stated she spends little or no time on social media however seen the response when she signed with the Fever earlier this yr.
“The followers had been like, ‘We’re actually comfortable you are again right here.’ I liked it,” Howard stated with a smile.
Faces from the Fever’s previous are all over the place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, as if the great vibes from the franchise’s greatest days are channeled into the current. White, who coached the Solar in 2023 and 2024, is again the place she spent 11 years as a participant and coach. Workforce president Kelly Krauskopf was the Fever’s authentic GM when the franchise launched in 2000. She left to be assistant GM of the Pacers in 2018 and now has returned.
Former Fever gamers Briann January, Karima Christmas-Kelly and Tully Bevilaqua are a part of the teaching employees. Lin Dunn, the longtime Fever head coach together with for the 2012 title, stepped in as GM in 2022 when the franchise was at all-time low following famous person Tamika Catchings’ retirement in 2016.
Dunn, 78, had retired from basketball however agreed to return, saying she thought she may make progress in three seasons. She did, and he or she stays with the crew as a senior advisor.
Present GM Amber Cox and Bonner are new to the Fever, however each recall the ambiance when Indiana performed in its first WNBA Finals in 2009. They had been with the Fever’s opponent, the Phoenix Mercury, which beat Indiana in 5 video games.
In 2009, Bonner, now 37 and a mom of 7-year-old twins, was a WNBA rookie; Clark was 7 years outdated.
“Generally, I simply say, ‘Oh my god, you youngsters!’ ” Bonner stated, laughing, about her youthful teammates. “However on the identical time, that retains me going.”
Bonner gained two titles with the Mercury after which performed within the 2022 Finals with Connecticut, the place she spent 2020-24. She did not come to Indiana to take over, however to slot in.
“I felt like that they had their chemistry already with their core, with CC, Kelsey and AB,” Bonner informed ESPN. “They only wanted just a few extra equipment round them — good individuals. We now have good power within the locker room. You all the time can inform — earlier than you step on the court docket — what it will be like by the locker room first.”
Cunningham stated she was happy to be traded to Indiana regardless of having fun with six seasons in Phoenix, the place she was drafted in 2019. The Fever’s fashion of play appealed to her, and he or she was prepared for a change.
“It felt prefer it was time to go,” Cunningham informed ESPN. “And all the things about this made sense.”
Cunningham is a high-energy participant, very like guard Lexie Hull, whom the Fever picked No. 6 within the 2022 draft.
“In sports activities, there are two varieties of chemistry: the on-court chemistry after which the issues you do not actually know till you get all people collectively and see how they work together,” Krauskopf informed ESPN. “It will possibly look good on paper, however you must see it play out. This group, all of them need it to achieve success. They need the chemistry to work.”
BEFORE CLARK WAS sidelined by harm, the Fever had been 2-2 and had misplaced these video games by a complete of three factors.
On Might 20 at house, the Fever misplaced 91-90 to Atlanta in a recreation that got here all the way down to a ultimate possession. 4 days later got here the two-point loss to New York in Indianapolis. That they had an opportunity to win or tie on the ultimate possession, however veteran Liberty guard Natasha Cloud knocked the ball away from Clark and time expired. That was the final time Clark performed.
“We’re two possessions from being 4-0,” Clark stated after falling to New York. “However there have been so many little areas of this recreation we may have improved. It positively stings, however that is what is going on to make us higher on the finish of the yr.”
Then Clark was injured. With out her, the Fever misplaced back-to-back video games to Washington and Connecticut, two groups not projected to be within the playoffs this season. And extra accidents adopted. Cunningham has been restricted to 4 video games due to an ankle harm. And in that late-Might loss to the Solar, Colson exited with a leg harm, leaving the Fever with eight gamers the remainder of the sport and all the way down to their fourth level guard possibility.
Signing guard Aari McDonald through a hardship exception helped Indiana bounce again to beat the Mystics of their second assembly on June 3. And on June 7, in entrance of greater than 19,000 followers within the first WNBA recreation performed at Chicago’s United Heart, the Fever crushed the Sky for a second time this season, successful 79-62. White missed that recreation coping with household considerations, then returned Tuesday because the Dream snapped the Fever’s two-game win streak, 77-58.
Aliyah Boston’s effectivity has been off the charts within the final 4 video games. Capturing 78% in that stretch (all w/o Caitlin Clark). She averages 12.8 FGA with CC and solely 6.8 FGA w/o her, in comparable minutes (31mg v 28mg). Could possibly be poised for a monster scoring outburst when CC returns.
— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) June 9, 2025
All through her harm absence, Clark has been an enthusiastic “assistant coach.”
“She does not like sitting nonetheless,” Hull stated. “She likes being occupied and having one thing to do, so the coaches give her issues to maintain observe of. I imply, you see it — she needs to be on the market. She’s speaking to the refs, she’s nonetheless very a lot concerned.”
A latest video on social media confirmed Clark bouncing a small ball on the sideline and play-wrestling with Colson. “Oh my gosh, she’s like slightly child,” Boston joked. “She must maintain herself entertained.
“However critically, she’s all the time speaking, all the time shifting. It retains all the things fairly mild. That is her persona.”
Boston and Clark clicked as a post-guard duo final season, a connection that has solely deepened. They’re desirous to be on the court docket collectively once more, however they know adversity is a part of the journey.
“All the pieces isn’t going to be picture-perfect in a season,” Boston stated. “It’s important to be lifelike about it. Whoever is prepared and wholesome and might compete, you simply must go together with that.”
Nobody is aware of that higher than Mitchell, now in her eighth WNBA season. The Fever drafted her at No. 2 in 2018, and he or she’s enjoying for her fifth coach in Indiana. She has but to expertise a successful season — final yr’s .500 report was one of the best it has been in her profession — and the Fever totaled single-digit victories in 4 of her seasons.
Mitchell believes in what the Fever are doing now but additionally does not sugarcoat issues. After Indiana’s house loss to Atlanta, she was blunt within the postgame information convention.
“Right now we failed miserably as a gaggle,” Mitchell stated. “Consciousness, understanding personnel, self-discipline — being on high of that. Having the ability to face up to runs.
“I child you not: This is among the hardest-working teams I’ve ever seen. [But] some nights are good, some nights are dangerous. It is a part of being an expert athlete.”
Offense has been the Fever’s strongest level since Clark has joined the crew. Her potential to run the offense at a quick tempo was elite rapidly into her professional profession.
“Oftentimes, we are saying it is like making music,” White stated. “It is like a dance, like rhythm, all these issues.”
The Fever must get higher defensively, particularly in comparison with final season, once they had the league’s second-worst defensive ranking. January, who’s in command of the Fever protection, was an impressive defensive participant who brings that to her teaching.
“Bri has actually challenged our group to be bodily, to be up of their area,” Clark stated. “For those who try this, you are going to deny passing lanes, attempt to get steals, jam up their handoffs. You are by no means by your self; you will have built-in assist.
“And the factor about watching movie is, you return and look and it is by no means as dangerous because it appears. However it’s additionally by no means pretty much as good because it appears.”
Maybe that is one of the best ways to have a look at the Fever’s season up to now. At occasions, they’ve performed so nicely it is comprehensible why there’s a lot pleasure about them. Different occasions, the issues have confirmed.
“We’re making ready ourselves for September and October,” Hull stated. “If we are able to undergo these things now to arrange for that, it is good. There are occasions it is not enjoyable, however we’re all prepared to remain in it, keep centered and simply perceive it is a part of the method.”
