2024-25 WNBA Offseason Guides: Indiana Fever
Our breakdowns of where WNBA teams stand heading into the offseason and 2025 continue with the Indiana Fever
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Previously published 2024-25 Offseason Guides:
Los Angeles Sparks
Dallas Wings
Chicago Sky
Washington Mystics
Atlanta Dream
Seattle Storm
2024 record: 20-20, No. 6 seed, lost 2-0 to Connecticut in the first round.
2025 draft picks: The Fever have all their own picks in 2025, and no extras. Their first-rounder will likely be No. 8 overall, although exact placement is still dependent on where the league slots Golden State.
Free agents: Kelsey Mitchell (unrestricted free agent), Erica Wheeler (unrestricted free agent), Temi Fagbenle (restricted free agent).
Under contract for 2025: Katie Lou Samuelson, Damiris Dantas, NaLyssa Smith, Lexie Hull, Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Grace Berger, Kristy Wallace, Victaria Saxton.
2024 performance: Despite a somewhat disappointing conclusion in the playoffs, 2024 largely has to be considered a significant success for the Indiana Fever. After completing the necessary plan in 2023 - making absolutely sure they were back in the lottery - and getting the requisite lottery luck, Caitlin Clark arrived and has been transformative. While the start was rocky and she was never actually in the conversation to win Most Valuable Player, she finished fourth in MVP voting and the Fever have become comfortably the biggest draw in the WNBA. Post-Olympics they were a top-five team in the league, and while they were given something of a lesson by the strength and experience of Connecticut in the playoffs, this was finally a season of genuine positive growth for Indiana.
Clark was obviously the driving force behind the changes, but there were other positives for Indiana as well. Once they got the growing pains out of the way and recovered from the 2-9 start against a tough schedule to open the season, an upswing began that lasted for essentially the rest of the year. Kelsey Mitchell had another strong, efficient offensive season, proving that she can fit in alongside Clark in a backcourt and still be as dynamic and dangerous as ever (we're going to talk about the defense later). Aliyah Boston struggled as much as anyone in those early games, but once she figured out how to fit in with Clark and the coaching staff adjusted to involve her more effectively, she was back to being a central piece of the puzzle for the Fever. Even Lexie Hull, who'd spent two-and-a-half seasons flitting in and out of the lineup as her complete lack of offense negated any positives on the defensive end, exploded after the Olympic break by shooting an absurd 63% from 3-point range. All those advances also made head coach Christie Sides look a lot more settled rather than on the brink of being replaced. There are still plenty of things for Indiana to work on, but apart from the well-publicised issues with the extreme end of Clark's fanbase, the atmosphere around the Fever emerging from 2024 is overwhelmingly positive.
Offseason finances: With only one expensive/bad contract on the books - the guaranteed $180,250 Katie Lou Samuelson is slated to make next year - the Fever once again have acres of cap space to go shopping. Nine players from this year's roster are already under contract for next year, with $657,639 in space left over. That's enough to sign three players to regular max contracts in those final three roster spots, and still have over $14,000 left over (more than enough to replace someone on the end of their bench like Victaria Saxton with their first-round pick).
The numbers probably won't quite work out like that, even before free agency opens. Kelsey Mitchell is slated to become an unrestricted free agent but will surely be cored by the Fever. That retains her exclusive rights, but comes with a supermax core qualifying offer of $249,244. We've seen plenty of players force their way out even after being cored, but even if Mitchell wants to leave, that would force it to be in a trade rather than for free. After that supermax offer takes up space (or if Mitchell just signs it and therefore takes up the same cap space herself), there would be $408,395 left. No longer enough for two max contracts in the remaining roster spots (unless they cut someone to go down to an 11-player roster), but pretty close. If Clark, Boston and endless sold out arenas have finally made the Fever an attractive enough free agent destination to tempt some players who are worth the money, Indiana have the money to spend.
Offseason priorities: A lot of Indiana's offseason decisions, possibly for multiple offseasons rather than just this one, are going to revolve around defense. Even when they started to win games and impress people this year it was largely behind an offensive improvement, while the defense just managed to take a small step up from deplorable to merely bad. The improvement over the course of the season probably saved Sides's job, but if there is any consideration over still firing her it'll be due to the belief that the defensive issues were in part her fault. If they have any wish to move on from Kelsey Mitchell - if she goes anywhere I would expect it to be her wanting out rather than the Fever wanting to move her, but hypothetically - it'll be because they've decided that a Clark/Mitchell backcourt just can't be good enough defensively to contend. And if they decide to pull the trigger on a NaLyssa Smith trade, it'll be due to her defense.
Beyond the decisions over whether to keep Sides (I think they probably will) and whether to core Mitchell (they surely have to), the major in-house decision this offseason in Indiana has to be what they do with Smith. She was expected to be Boston's long-term partner in the post, an athletic weapon who can score and rebound and should've found extra space to contribute with defenses worried about Clark, Boston and Mitchell. But it never quite worked this year, and while she started 37 of 40 regular season games, she was repeatedly benched by Sides for crunch-time (and then demoted in favor of Temi Fagbenle for their final playoff game, playing only four minutes off the bench). The problem was largely defensively, where the Fever were 11.4 points per 100 possessions worse with Smith on the court, and the experience of Fagbenle and Damiris Dantas tended to work much better alongside Boston. While they'd probably be selling low, Smith was the No. 2 pick only two years ago, has only just turned 24, and remains an exceptional athlete with real offensive talent. That kind of player could still get something pretty significant in return if they decide it's time to move on.
Alternatively, of course, they could just keep Smith and try to attract other options in free agency. They'll likely want to bring Fagbenle back after she was a veteran leader for them on and off the court this year but they'll surely make calls to bigger names. Even if the likes of Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas are cored, players like Natasha Howard and Nneka Ogwumike are going to be available. After the steps forward this season, they may find those types of players more willing to return their calls.
Future assets: As with 2025, the Fever have neither added nor subtracted any 2026 picks yet, so they simply have all of their own and no extras. They also don't have any rights to suspended or previously drafted players lingering around. It's a very clean slate. On the bright side, next season is currently scheduled to be the first year since 2021 that Indiana won't be paying out money to players who've been bought out of contracts the team eventually realised were a bad idea to begin with.
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Trade Smith for someone cheap and sign Natasha Howard. Sure, Clark and Mitchell are an issue on defense, but the elite backcourt offense more than offsets any defensive weaknesses.
It’s funny you can’t really harp on Clark’s turnovers in this since she barely turned it over in the playoffs