UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The championship version of Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever was never going to be built in one season, and no one knew that, from the general manager to the ultra-competitive Clark.
“This is an opportunity for us to see what’s possible for this organization and this franchise,” Clark said after the final 40 minutes of a sensational rookie season, “and there’s a lot we can be proud of.”
On Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, the Fever were on the brink of a Game 3 against the far more experienced Connecticut Suns, and the final minutes were reminiscent of the ending to Clark’s classic story that has captivated millions of fans for nearly a year.
She hit a fadeaway shot with five minutes left, passed to Lexi Hull to set up a mini-run for the Fever, set up a 3-pointer by Temi Fagbenle, and finished off with another 3-pointer to give the Fever their first lead since 1:29 in the first quarter. The Fever took the lead again with a pass to Aaliyah Boston.
But results don’t come fast enough, as did Clark in Iowa. The Fever offense fizzled out and the Sun finished off Indiana’s best season since 2016 with an 87-81 victory in the same spot where the year began.
“This team won five games three years ago,” Clark said. “We’re a young group, inexperienced, but we came together and had a lot of fun playing each other. Sometimes it sucks when you feel like you’re playing your best basketball and then it’s over.”
Caitlin Clark drives to the basket during the third quarter of Game 2 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on September 25, 2024. (Photo by Joe Baglewicz/Getty Images)
Clark improved as the season went on, going from a franchise-record 10 turnovers in her debut to 25 points with nine assists, six rebounds, one steal, one block and three turnovers in the final game. She played 40 minutes alongside backcourt mate Kelsey Mitchell and opened the game with a three-pointer, signaling that this wouldn’t be the poor shooting night fans saw in Game 1.
She finished fourth in MVP voting and was a first-team All-WNBA selection. The Associated Press unanimously named her Rookie of the Year. The league’s ROY award is almost certain to be hers. Both rookie and overall records were broken in one fell swoop.
And the Fever made the playoffs for the first time since 2016, a goal they’d declared quite publicly after years at the bottom of the standings as a joke of the league. From 2017-2022, the Fever went 45-147 (234 win percentage) with just one season above .300. Their lottery picks were useless and wasted.
In 2022, the Fever finished the season with a franchise-worst 5-31 record (.139 winning percentage), and general manager Lin Dunn brought in Christy Sides as head coach. They drafted defending South Carolina champion Boston with the No. 1 pick. The 6’5″ center led the team to a 13-27 season, tying the franchise’s record for most wins since 2017, and won ROY.
“I think my rookie season was a rebuilding year,” Boston said. “When you think about a rebuilding year, everybody wants to jump in and go for a championship and bring home a ring or whatever, but when you look at basketball overall and look back from where we started to where we are now, I think it’s more of a stepping stone. I think in two seasons we’ve taken the right steps to move forward and I’m excited for the future.”
“We’re growing, and I think it’s important to keep that focus.”
The Las Vegas Aces had the No. 1 draft pick three consecutive seasons from 2017 to 2019, but lost in the Finals in 2020, and their core group didn’t win a title until 2022. The Seattle Storm also had the No. 1 draft pick two consecutive years, but found themselves in the same situation.
Still, the Fever were expected to do well. Even great. Expectations were high as they thrived in an opening round featuring the game’s best team and a veteran roster. A 1-9 start made the noise from the outside louder. They bounced back and were one of the best-performing teams after the All-Star/Olympic break, finishing with a 20-20 record and securing the 6th seed.
“To start 1-8 and make the playoffs is a great story,” Sides said.
There was no gloomy vibe about this loss, no huge amount of frustration after the Game 1 loss, and of course we were disappointed with the way they played and how they deviated from the game plan, but this was a learning opportunity for the future.
Boston is under a rookie contract through 2025 with an option through 2026. Clark is under a contract through 2026 and 2027. Mitchell is an unrestricted free agent and the Fever will likely make a strong pitch to keep him. The Fever have big free agents they want to acquire and deep draft picks to replenish their bench.
“We definitely have the ingredients to have some great years ahead with this young talent,” Said said.
Sides said she plans to take a couple of weeks to decompress and enjoy “getting a good night’s sleep and waking up not talking about basketball forever.” Boston, who worked in a women’s college basketball studio last year, said she got to experience the Fever’s faster pace of play and will be better able to tailor her offseason training plans.
Clark is ready for a breather.
“I feel like basketball has really taken over my life this past year,” Clark said.
The “Crossover at Kinnick,” which kicked off her senior season at Iowa, was almost a year ago, on October 15, 2023. She chased and broke Pete Maravich’s NCAA career scoring record, a record that many believed would never be broken. The record holder led Iowa to a second straight Final Four, a team that had never made it to the Final Four before her time there. In the same week, she appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and was officially named the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. The crowd that welcomed her in Indianapolis stayed there all summer as the Fever broke attendance records.
She doesn’t have time to look back on her life or pick a favorite moment from it all – she focuses on the relationships she made and the people around her when she achieved it all.
As for assessing her own rookie season, it’s also difficult: She’s a tough judge and a fierce competitor who always wants to improve.
“I feel like this year has been a solid year,” Clark said, “but the fun part for me is I feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface. I’m a guy that’s obsessive about everything that I do. I want to contribute to this franchise, I want to be better for my teammates so that they can get better, and I know I have a lot of work to do to continue to improve. So, that’s what excites me the most. I feel like I can get better and better, and before you know it, we’ll all be back here and ready for next year.”
The championship version of Fever and Clark is close, but still loading.
