INDIANA FEVER’S BIGGEST EARLY SEASON PROBLEMS + POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

WRITTEN + EDITED BY JORDYN BONTRAGER

As has been the common case prior to the start of the past 3 seasons, hopes were high for what the Indiana Fever could potentially accomplish looking ahead to the 2026 WNBA season. Unfortunately there have not been any major leaps forward from the core crew and/or noteworthy contributions from the newcomers added to the team’s support cast. The team’s stagnation we have seen on the floor combined with a bit of trouble in paradise brewing between Caitlin Clark and the coaching staff have made the early season path of the treacherous variety.

Every team experiences their own set of growing pains during the early phases of each regular season, and it will be critical that Amber Cox, Stephanie White and every other member of this franchise puts their heads together in addressing their respective rose thorns.

PROBLEM #1 | LACK OF DEFENSE

Leading up to opening tipoff of tonight’s nail-biting overtime victory at home over Chicago, Indiana’s defense has been downright embarrassing. The Fever have been towards the tail end of the rankings in just about every statistical category of team defense throughout their first 11 games, and those figures are only going to get worse after the Sky poured in a season high 106 points on them in today’s tilt (rookie Sydney Taylor gave them her first career 30-piece).

It is going to take a collective effort for this team to turn things around on the defensive end, but there is at least one minor rotation wrinkle Stephanie White could try which could make major waves when it comes to this topic. That would be deducting some of the minutes actively allocated to Monique Billings in favor of Makayla Timpson. Simply put, Billings has been bad (-5.8 On-Off/100 possessions) while Timpson’s been good (+ 5.5) thus far. Kay Kay gets after it defensively, using her long arms + bunny hops to make things tough on opposing scorers and easier on her fellow team defenders.

PROBLEM #2 | BRICKS ON BRICKS

The shooters have been shooting much more sufficiently recently (Lexie Hull was up to 44.4% from deep before hitting just 1 of her 7 3PAs tonight), but the club’s going to want to hit better than 1/3 of their collective trey tries if they want to transpire the rings for which they aspire. Considering they chuck the league’s third most triples per contest, any sort of step forward in the efficiency of these heaves would be colossal.

If only the NCAA’s 7th most efficient marksman from last season were buried on the end of this team’s bench. Oh that’s right, she is..

Assuredly the coaching staff is looking to hold off as long as possible prior to redeeming any of Justine Pissot’s eligibility for 12 active games on her development contract as a rookie. With 32 games remaining in the regular szn, White’s administration would be wise to find their 6’4” flamethrower some run sooner rather than later.

PROBLEM #3 | BALL CONTROL

Tonight’s 15 turnovers looks a little better given the extra 5 minutes of free basketball fans received, but it put them precisely on par with their average of 14.8 TOPG going into the game. When you play the accelerated style which Stephanie White breeds and Caitlin Clark brews, coughing up the cake on a few more occasions than normal is a normal occurrence. And while you are never going to take your foot fully off the gas pedal that dictates this team’s pace, tasking Caitlin will turning the speed dial back a hair or two could surely translate to an uptick in keeping control of the rock.

PROBLEM #4 | DEPTH DROUGHT

The upper echelon of this unit’s talent is among the league’s most elite. In Clark x Boston x Mitchell, the Fever are home to the league’s most lethal three-headed monster as of this moment. Things get a lot more lethargic in terms of this franchise’s firepower once you dive deeper into the supporting cast that surrounds them on the depth chart.

Lexie Hull’s label as one of the game’s greatest 3&D X-Factor’s still stands to this day (led the league with 37 charges drawn in ‘25), but it seems as though the world might be awaiting another expansion beyond that from Lexie which may never come. After exuding an enhanced layer of confidence in CC’s absence throughout the 2025 postseason run, Hull looked poised to unlock another level of untapped potential this year. However, that assumed momentum working in her favor has not manifested any evident moments of it simmering to a boil with Clark back in the mix.

If the fantasy of Hull leveling up to something more has been forfeited, you best believe that same void in belief behooves her clone Sophie Cunningham on the wing as well. Cunningham owns a reputation as one of the game’s toughest ladies, and should continue to help space the floor while simultaneously splitting the toughest nightly defensive assignments with her twin. Aside from Caitlin’s blonde bodyguards, the other rotation spots not belonging to the Big 3 are currently reserved for Billings, Myisha Hines-Allen, Timpson and the rook Raven Johnson.

With all due respect to her, Monique Billings just simply aint it for this team’s starting power forward position. She is only finding success on a subpar 40.8% of her 4.9 FGA/game, and aside from her reliability as a rebounder + functionality as a screener she has genuinely done nothing to so much as warrant a rotation spot let alone starting job. Compare that brief report card status to the more impactful iniatives of Hines-Allen (17.6 MPG | 4.8 PPG | 3.3 RPG | 2.2 APG vs 1.8 TOPG | 0.9 SPG | 0.5 BPG | 48.8% FG | 22.2% 3FG | 81.8% FT) should have been serving in Billings’ situation all along. MHA has been the heart and soul of this team’s collective spirit through thick and thin so far, and a traditional box score will (should?) never own the innate ability to justify Myisha’s true mark on her team’s energy. And speaking of energy, this band has gotten endless amounts of it out of Timpson + Johnson in limited action so far (12.7 MPG + 14.0 MPG, respectively) as they look to embed themselves into the Fever’s future forecasts.

A starting lineup of Clark x Mitchell x Hull x Billings x Boston blended with a bench rotation which consists of Cunningham x Hines-Allen x Timpson x Johnson should equal a whole assortment of issues for opposing teams to sift through. But unless Johnson gulps down a Red Bull + suddenly sprouts some premier playmaking wings overnight, this roster has no catalytic juice to show for it except El Tres Grande.

The possibilities are aplenty with regards to which plausible path(s) for Amber Cox to contemplate on this one, and a handful of those routes involve activity on the trade market. A quick canvassing act around the association distinguishes a route which stands out from the rest: circling the skies of Chicago with the practice of patience on the mind.

Sky’s new alpha Rickea Jackson (torn ACL) is sidelined for the szn, while Courtney Vandersloot has been on the sidelines nursing an ACL injury of her own. DiJonai Carrington (foot), another of Chiraq’s new notable names from last year’s offseason overhaul, has been seated aside Vandersloot in the injured reserve section of the pine since the the season’s opening whistle was blown. On top of that, you have the newly induced vet Skylar Diggins already venting frustrations of Chicago’s lack of competitiveness. These things considered among others, we could/should see a fire sale coming from the Sky sometime over the next two months. If/when that transpires, there are a number of names to choose from: Carrington, Diggins, Natasha Cloud, Azura Stevens.

If the front office were able to frolic their way into somehow picking up 3 out of those 4 players, it would go down as one of the greatest dreams that ever came true. In a perfect world, Carrington x Cloud x Stevens all switch over to Indiana’s side in any hypothetical swap between the two sides. That recipe has many/all of the ingredients needed to reasonably put an end to the overlying problems in discussion.