2023-24 WNBA Offseason Guides: Indiana Fever
Our series detailing where teams stand heading into the WNBA offseason continues with the Fever
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Previously published 2023-24 Offseason Guides:
Seattle Storm
Phoenix Mercury
2023 record (when eliminated): 11-25
2024 draft picks: Hold all their own selections, including top-4 lottery pick. Will have the best odds in the lottery draw.
Free agents: Emma Cannon (UFA), Amanda Zahui B. (UFA), Maya Caldwell (Reserved)
Under contract: Kelsey Mitchell, Erica Wheeler, Victoria Vivians, NaLyssa Smith, Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, Grace Berger, Kristy Wallace, Victaria Saxton
2023 performance: I said it so many times that some people got a little sick of it - don't finish higher than ninth. And they didn't. So on that level, it was mission accomplished in 2023. On others, maybe a passing grade, but without being a rip-roaring success. There were positive signs that had been missing in previous years. Competitive games, players showing signs of progress, and obviously the addition of a star building block in inevitable Rookie of the Year, Aliyah Boston. However, this was still, statistically speaking, the worst defensive team in the league. They still lack shot creation and perimeter shooting outside of Kelsey Mitchell. Both Boston and NaLyssa Smith still have areas to work on, despite their exciting potential. They also found a staggering number of ways to lose those close games. But for the fans who've stuck around through the lean years - and there have been a whole lot of those years since the Tamika Catchings era ended in 2016 - this was a season with genuine, actual promise. They got the No. 1 pick in a year where there was a real No. 1 pick, and thanks to meeting that "no higher than ninth" goal that might just happen again. Then they could really be in business.
Offseason finances: Indiana have had plenty of cap space for years now but have struggled to attract players who are worth spending it on. That's why, with all due respect, Erica Wheeler got a two-year max deal before this season that no other team would've given her, and Victoria Vivians got over $270,000 in guaranteed money after four thoroughly underwhelming seasons. Back in 2021, the previous Fever regime gave ridiculous three-year guaranteed deals to Jantel Lavender and Danielle Robinson, which eventually resulted in an expensive buyout for Lavender and needing a lucky trade to fall in their lap to take on Robinson's final season. All of which is to say they have money available again, but still need to spend it wisely. Outside of Wheeler and Mitchell around the max, and the second year of that Vivians deal, everyone else on the roster is still on their rookie-scale contract, so the current roster is cheap. Even the dead money from Lavender's buyout is finally finished after this year. So if they were to keep the current nine players under contract and add their lottery pick, they'd still have $393,724 in cap space. With the regular max at $208,219 next season, they could add two players up in that range even while maintaining a 12-player roster. If they went down to 11, there'd be theoretical room for a supermax and a regular max, although there's no one they could sign to a supermax contract without a complicated sign-and-trade deal. So that's just to illustrate that there's money to spend here if they can find the right people to spend it on, and convince them to come.
Offseason priorities: The building continues. Unfortunately for the Fever, free agency comes before the draft so they won't know exactly what their major priorities need to be in terms of filling holes on the roster. Even if they win the lottery again, NIL money and the extra Covid year available to college players have created significant uncertainty about who will actually declare for the draft rather than stay in school. The dream scenario is presumably Iowa's Caitlin Clark, whom they could put in a backcourt next to Mitchell and hope to outscore every opponent they come across (and be wildly entertaining even when losing). But if players like Clark and Paige Bueckers stay in school then many of the other top prospects are bigs (Cameron Brink, Aaliyah Edwards, Angel Reese), which creates its own issues for the Fever. When they already have two young posts with high potential in Boston and Smith, adding another might be an overcrowding of assets in the same area. So then you have to consider trading the pick, or even trading Smith (I seriously doubt that Boston is going anywhere). All of which is complicated - especially if they get the No. 1 pick - because they won't know who's going to be available to be picked until April.
So you plan for every eventuality and hope for the best. Anyone who listened to our Mock Offseason Podcast last year will have heard me as the fake Fever GM desperately chasing wings. From Brittney Sykes to Sophie Cunningham to Bridget Carleton, I wanted size and length and shooting on the wing. Nothing much has changed, and that hole is still there. Lexie Hull was better in year two but still looks like a decent backup at best, so that same class of players would be a nice upgrade for the Fever. Maybe they could offer to overpay someone like Rebecca Allen. You make a call on Kahleah Copper to start off with, but I'm assuming they're unlikely to attract that tier of free agent until they've proven they're a little closer to contention.
The one true big name we may well see genuinely linked to the Fever this offseason is Skylar Diggins-Smith, which will split opinions. She obviously has links to the area after growing up in Indiana and going to Notre Dame, which could give the Fever a better chance of bringing her in than they would typically have with players of her level. However, she's worn out her welcome at both the WNBA franchises she's represented, is 33 years old, and is coming off giving birth to her second child without having played in the last year. So there would be risks in committing to her, but potentially risks worth taking for a player that was All-WNBA calibre in Phoenix even while her relationship with the Mercury was breaking down. If the Fever knew they were getting Clark, I don't think they'd do it - you just stay young and hand the keys to Clark and Boston. But especially if they don't get the No. 1 pick in the lottery draw, they might well decide that taking a swing with Skylar is worth the shot.
Future assets: Indiana haven't touched their 2025 draft picks or added any from elsewhere, so simply hold their own in each round. After waiving Bernadett Határ during the 2023 season for no obvious reason, the only rights they hold to overseas players are reserved rights to veteran British post Temi Fagbenle, who seems to be done with the WNBA.
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So much depends on what Clark, Bueckers and Reese do, and the lack of in-depth reporting on women's basketball makes it very hard to parse what might happen.
I think the Fever should roll the dice on SDS -- but hopefully on a one- or at most two-year deal. At some point, you have to quit stockpiling young players and try to win, and I think Indiana is at that point.