The Indiana Fever Have Immediate WNBA Championship Expectations
The Indiana Fever mean business. Not only did the franchise not rest on its laurels following its first WNBA playoff appearance since 2016, but the team made sweeping changes.
The Fever brought in an entirely new front office, installing Kelly Krauskopf as President of Basketball and Business Operations and Amber Cox as General Manager. Moves they followed up by dismissing head coach Christie Sides.
The latter change caught many off guard, though it shouldn't have been that surprising once reports of the team's interest in Connecticut Sun coach Stephanie White surfaced.
However, parting ways with Sides is not a decision made without big goals in mind. Especially considering the now former coach presided over a turnaround from a 1-8 start that ended in ending the aforementioned postseason drought.
The above isn't even something that needs to be read into since Krauskopf essentially said as much when announcing Sides' departure. The Team President stated, “While decisions like these are never easy, it is also imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana." That said in a release about the decision.
We have parted ways with head coach Christie Sides.
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) October 27, 2024
More: https://t.co/eBb0wRuBlF pic.twitter.com/Ja5S3uGPOb
The bit about maximizing talent is interesting, since the talent in question on the Fever begins with Caitlin Clark. It's probably a fair assumption that had Clark felt strongly about Sides staying she would still be the coach today.
Going into next season it is clear the game plan is to build a team around the sensation who broke all sorts of records in her rookie season. And it's not unreasonable for Clark to compete for MVP and stake a claim as the best player in the WNBA in 2025. She was First Team All-WNBA in her first year after all.
Indiana also has a strong foundation beyond Clark, most notably with fellow All-Stars Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. Mitchell is a free agent this offseason and the Fever have already stated bringing her back is priority one. The expectation is that she will be back in the fold, even if that isn't guaranteed until a contract is signed.
In addition to that stellar core, it will be on the retooled front office to bolster the rest of the roster. According to Spotrac, Indiana will have plenty of cap space to work with. And one would think they will be a highly sought after destination for impact free agents, something Dallas Wings star Satou Sabally may have already hinted at.
We won't know how the landscape will shake out for a while of course, but the shake up from the Fever says one thing very clearly: The franchise expects to compete for a WNBA championship immediately.
Robin Lundberg is a media veteran and hoops head who has spent the bulk of his career with iconic brands like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. His insights have also been featured on platforms such as Fox and CNN and he can currently be heard hosting shows for Sirius XM and on his burgeoning YouTube show. And now he brings his basketball expertise to Women's Fastbreak on SI!