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INDIANAPOLIS — It’s consensus that the Indiana Fever would not win the WNBA Finals. And that’s not bad by any means. If anything, it means the Fever were playing with house money at Mohegan Sun Arena and had nothing to lose. But now that they have lost, undergoing a 2-0 sweep to the Connecticut Sun, roots of foundation, fulfillment, and the future, have now sprung.
To reach the playoffs, which the Fever hadn’t done for seven prior seasons, proved that winning the lottery and drafting Caitlin Clark has transformed the trajectory of the franchise. They have All-Star players to build around, such as 22-year-old Aliyah Boston and unrestricted free agent Kelsey Mitchell, who general manager Lin Dunn said they’ve begun contract conversations with.
“We definitely have the pieces to have some great years ahead of us,” Fever coach Christie Sides said Wednesday. “This young talent that we have. It’s kind of the advice that I’ve been giving all year, just with the sold out arenas that we've been playing in and the way that these guys have kept growing… when you’re in it, it’s hard to take a second to just look and enjoy it.”
The Fever have draft capital. They will have money if they offset some outdated contracts and can venture out to sign top talent to likely one-year deals. As the current collective bargaining agreement will likely be renewed following the 2025 season, increasing the price of contracts. Regardless of how wonky things get with the Golden State expansion draft, this remains clear:
The franchise is humming. They have the resources. They have their architect, Kelly Krauskopf returning to the office as the president of basketball and business operations. Krauskopf led the Fever from 2000-18, with 12 consecutive playoff appearances, three conference titles and one Finals trophy. Dunn, the current GM, was head coach for seven of the Krauskopf-led seasons.
Like Krauskopf, Dunn left in last decade, yet was brought back as interim GM leading into the 2022 season. Then, she began work on the Three Year Plan to get back to the playoffs. Dunn hired former Fever assistant coach Christie Sides to be head coach for the 2023 season. They went 13-27, winning eight more games than the 2022 season. And Sides had the job security.
As seen recently around the league, not all first-to-second year head coaches have that luxury.
In 2024, the Fever went 20-20 and made the playoffs.
Besides promising front office, what don’t the Fever have?
Simply put, they don’t have any playoff experience. They were the lone squad in the eight-team bracket where all five starters had not appeared in the playoffs. It’s frankly absurd, considering that 75% of teams in the WNBA make the postseason. But it takes time. Dunn’s plan included draft picks, and four of the Fever’s starting five were in-house draftees in the past three classes.
The other, Kelsey Mitchell, drafted by the Fever in 2018, had her best season of her career.
Even though the Fever got swept, they at some point had to sacrifice themselves in the name of getting playoff experience. After Wednesday night’s season-ending loss, Aliyah Boston cited the benefit of tasting what playoff basketball in this league is. Boston and other starters all went far in the NCAAs, but playing postseason vets like DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas is tough.
For competitors though, it’ll sting in the best way.
“We talked about it in our locker room after,” Clark said Friday. “People were disappointed in the outcome. We could’ve done a little bit more to help it get back here for a Game 3, but it gave us a taste of where we wanted to be. That’s exactly what Christie iterated in the locker room, you have to let this burn inside of you and let it bother you — in a way it’s going to drive you.”
Clark said the Fever are looking to be among the top-four teams next season.
Right now, they’re right below the league’s elite: able to compete, but not win 5-out-10 times.
“When you’re looking at a rebuild year, everyone wants to obviously jump to the championship and bring home a ring and everything,” Boston said Wednesday. “It’s about stepping stones and I think in two seasons, we’ve made the right steps to go forward. I’m excited for what the future holds, because we won 13 (games) my first season, now 20 this year. Like, we’re on the rise.”
What does the Fever offense need for 2025?
Boston alluded that many teams in this league have had to undergo rebuilds. The Las Vegas Aces had three consecutive No. 1 picks: Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young, and are the back-to-back WNBA champions. The Fever used back-to-back No. 1s on Boston and Clark and because of the 2024 turnaround, won’t be getting another lottery pick in next year’s draft.
But the Fever have set themselves up well. Boston said in her exit interview Friday that the biggest importance for 2025 is depth and outside shooters. Perhaps, that’s the polite way of saying that the Fever front office has to go out and sign somebody. Because Lexie Hull at the three position brings in defensive stability and shooting, but having her as the sixth wouldn’t hurt at all.
There’s more to maneuver than that. It’s undetermined if whoever the Fever would get — would replace somebody in the starting lineup. But adding, say, Satou Sabally or Nneka Ogwumike, both unrestricted free agents and prolific veteran scorers, could seriously boost the Fever’s offense. But their Achilles heel all season long was their lack of defense. So there’s decisions.
Whatever the case may be, the offseason should be intriguing.
