Breakaway: Women’s Sports

It feels like forever since we’ve seen Caitlin Clark on the basketball court. After 12 straight months of Clark’s signature three-pointers between her senior season at Iowa and her rookie WNBA season in Indiana, she got a well-deserved break this winter. But with the WNBA season now approaching, Clark will be back on our screens soon as she enters her second season with the Indiana Fever, already poised to be a lot different than her rookie campaign.

Clark’s rookie season was all about getting the star acclimated to the WNBA. The Fever spared nothing to make sure their games were played at bigger venues, national broadcasts were scheduled, and events celebrating the rookie were arranged. The on-court product from Clark was just as expected, if not more advanced. She broke the rookie record for assists in a season quickly, continuously broke both rookie and overall league records, and was named the (almost uninamous) Rookie of the Year.

Yet, when the season came to a close, the Fever were swept in the first round of the playoffs. It was not completely shocking just based on the level of power other teams possessed — but the Fever now had the blueprint of what they needed to do to immediately capitalize on Clark’s time in Indiana. Here’s a refresher on what they did as they got to work in a busy offseason.

Bringing in Stephanie White as head coach

After a 20-20 record in 2024, and a first round playoff exit, the Fever started by addressing their coaching needs. Christie Sides was not a bad coach by any means, but the Fever now had leverage to attract a star for that position. Not only did they have Clark’s name on the roster, but their playoff berth offered tangible proof of the potential of the team.

They went to Indiana native and illustrious coach Stephanie White, who was coaching the Connecticut Sun in 2024. White has coached at the college level, and spent years as an assistant on both the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever. She was the head coach of the Fever in 2014, before leaving to coach at Vanderbilt until 2021. In 2023, she was hired as the head coach of the Sun and won the league’s Coach of the Year award that season.

White had the desire to come back home to Indiana, Indiana had the desire to hire a more experienced head coach. It worked out on both sides, and White was quickly hired as the Fever’s next leader.

Under White, Caitlin Clark will be pushed to grow her defensive game and limit her technical fouls (as she joked about on the Bird and Taurasi Final Four broadcast). But the coaching switch should also be beneficial for the entire team, and White has the experience needed to coach both the young stars of the Fever and their experienced free agency pickups… including a few names that will be familiar to her.

Multiple major free agency additions

Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images

After securing a coach with the gravitas that Steph White brings, the Fever were prepared to head into free agency. They re-signed star guard Kelsey Mitchell, then brought in experienced forwards in Natasha Howard and DeWanna Bonner. Veteran guard (and ultimate vibe-bringer) Sydney Colson also joined, while Sophie Cunningham came in as part of a multi-team trade, and seventh-year center Brianna Turner signed as well.

Overall, the Fever added the veteran experience the team so desperately needed. Last season they had talent, but lacked the experience needed to navigate the rollercoaster that is the WNBA season. Now Clark, along with Aliyah Boston and Lexie Hull (all that remain of the young core of the Fever’s past) have successful vets to lean on. Clark will have leaders in her ear at all times.

While this likely won’t be the Indiana Fever team of the long-term future, given the expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement and this season’s trend of one-year signings, it’s a good place to start.

Caitlin Clark’s Year Two: The Championship Hunt Begins

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Despite all the potential added by drafting Clark in 2024, that version of the Indiana Fever was not a championship-contending team. When you have New York, Las Vegas and other teams filled with veterans, coaching geniuses, and international successes — the Fever couldn’t keep up in year one of Clark’s career.

But with steps taken to address those needs: now what? While the pressure will certainly increase in many ways for Clark — who will no longer be able to lean on the excuse of being an adjusting rookie just trying to get by — it will also decrease in ways. Now that Clark has a tough but experienced coach in White, she will be challenged to grow as a player and leader. With veterans on her team that know what they need to do to succeed, the leadership onus does not fall completely on one young star.

The Fever did a great job of upping the ante enough so that Clark has what she needs to thrive, without putting all the pressure of the team succeeding on her shoulders alone. What should follow now is a version of Clark where she can sit back, play free, and focus on getting even better. It will take some time to see how the standings level out, but there should be a path for the Fever to (at least) make the WNBA playoffs, potentially win a series, and finish their season with a record better than the 20-20 they finished with in 2024.

Next offseason, the goal will turn into solidifying a roster of long-term prospects. Most of the WNBA will be free agents, giving the Fever a chance to attract some big names and further increase their title odds, and a good showing in 2025 would definitely help with that next step towards what Clark and Fever fans surely hope can be a sustained run in contention.