INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever were great in 2025, reaching the playoffs and winning a round for the first time since 2015. They were a five-minute overtime period away from a trip to the WNBA Finals despite injuries to several key players, including Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, prior to the final buzzer sounding on their postseason run.
Naturally, a talented team like that should stick together — seven of Indiana’s 12 players are back for 2026. And yet, this Indiana Fever team with a returning coaching staff and a similar crop of players will not be defined by how similar they are to last year’s bunch. Rather, their success in 2026 will come down to how different things are from last season.
Health. Personnel. Style tweaks. The Fever know they’ll need a bit more in all of those areas if they want to win it all, something they trust can happen after sharing a similar belief last year.
“I feel like as a competitor, it’s always championship or bust. That is the approach every single year,” star center Aliyah Boston said during Indiana’s media day on April 22. “With that being our mindset every single year, no matter who has Indiana going across their chest, it just allows you to understand this is what we’re working towards.”
The seven returning Indiana Fever players from last season are all major talents. Clark, Mitchell and Boston are back, as are Sophie Cunningham, Lexie Hull, Damiris Dantas and Makayla Timpson. That group represents most of the team’s top players from 2025, and the Fever went 13-9 when at least six of those seven players suited up last season, per pbpstats.
That’s a pretty good win rate, and a better one than the Fever’s final record of 24-20. But it’s also a telling descriptor for the Fever’s 2025 season that they only played 22 games with any combination of six-plus of their returnees last year. They had tons of health concerns last season, and that’s one of the ways 2026 could be different.
Clark, Cunningham and Dantas missed time last year, while Timpson’s inexperience kept her off the court. Mitchell played in every game before she suffered rhabdomyolysis in their final playoff game, a unique and scary injury that Mitchell believes happened as a result of over-usage.
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The Fever need to be healthier this year to reach their ceiling, and they’re doing something about it. There are more guards behind Mitchell and Clark, and that depth should lighten the minutes needed from the two stars somewhat. General manager Amber Cox also shared that the team made changes to its health staff in the offseason.
“We’re really excited about the wonderful things happening in the [WNBA]. And part of that is just adding additional resources. We had some people depart from our team, so we’ve added some new people, and just added positions,” Cox explained. “So really thinking about bringing in the best of the best, we want this to be the best experience possible from top to bottom for every single player.”
Head coach Stephanie White has been mindful of how many reps her players are getting throughout training camp. “Just be mindful of getting them in and out,” she said, adding later that in a perfect world, none of her starters are playing as many minutes as they did last season.
Clearly, the Fever have updated their approach to keeping top talent healthy and on the floor. Relying on the depth of their roster and surrounding their core stars with other talent will be a key part of doing that.
Monique Billings is Indiana’s highest-profile addition, and she could play a major role either alongside the starters or as a key frontcourt reserve. Tyasha Harris and Myisha Hines-Allen also provide new skills and could slot in the rotation seamlessly. Hines-Allen is a terrific rebounder for her size and can pair with other frontcourt pieces, while Harris is a defensive pest who has played for White before.
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Shatori Walker-Kimbrough also joined the squad and will be a steady hand as a depth piece. Those four veterans all have experience with multiple teams and can fill in a variety of different roles. Billings, as mentioned previously, can be a four or a five and can switch positions defensively with ease — last year with Golden State, she did some of both. Hines-Allen is equally interchangeable, and both Hull and Cunningham are capable of playing small-ball four in a pinch. There are countless frontcourt combos possible, and that doesn’t even account for the depth Dantas provides.
Harris is known for her defense and could pair well with either Mitchell or Clark as the team’s third guard. She can defend either backcourt position, too. Walker-Kimbrough doesn’t project to have a big role, but can keep things on track when needed.
These additions don’t even account for the 2026 WNBA Draft, where the Fever added Raven Johnson, Justine Pissott and Jessica Timmons. Johnson could be in the mix for playing time thanks to her defense and intangibles — those subtle, invisible traits have been noticed by her teammates during training camp.
“Her willingness to get after it,” assistant coach Briann January said of what stands out to her about Johnson’s defense. “I think she’s physically able to really be disruptive. She is a smart defender.”
Pissott, a terrific shooter at her height, has already signed a development contract, becoming the first-ever Indiana Fever player to do so. On that deal, she’ll be limited in the number of games she can be active for. But if a player can make shots, there will be a role for them at times throughout the season.
Timmons will have to battle to make the team or earn the Fever’s final development spot — technically, Walker-Kimbrough’s training camp deal puts her in the final roster spot mix as well. Megan McConnell and Kayana Traylor are in that mix, too. Clearly, the Fever wanted guard depth after Clark and Mitchell’s injuries last season. And they were often scrambling at the position after Sydney Colson also went down, bringing in multiple point guards on hardship contracts. That shouldn’t be necessary this year.
On paper, it all fits. The Fever are light on the wing and could be in some trouble if one of Billings or Boston goes down in terms of alternate options (and they’d be in trouble from a talent perspective if Boston goes down anyway). But some of the issues last year’s team faced were addressed in the abbreviated roster-building part of the offseason.
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The roster tweaks should lead to small on-court changes as well. Billings is a different player than Natasha Howard or DeWanna Bonner, the two previous training camp starters for the Fever’s frontcourt. Hines-Allen is unique and unmatched in skillset. Harris is the best defensive guard Indiana has rostered since Maya Caldwell or Danielle Robinson.
Players with new abilities open up lineup combinations and expand a team’s identity. After being somewhat limited last season, especially due to personnel, in year one coaching the franchise, White has much more at her disposal this year.
“I think we’ll look a little bit different just because of our personnel. We have a little bit more size. I think we’ll be able to do some more things on the defensive end of the floor,” White said when asked how this year’s team could look different. “I think we’ll hopefully be a better rebounding team as well, and that will allow us to play a little bit more in transition.”
In 2025, the Fever were among the worst rebounding teams per game, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. Boston was effective and Howard had her nights, but more was needed. Billings and Hines-Allen can help there.
And getting a rebound — and in turn, a stop — allows for transition opportunities. That’s where Clark and the Fever are at their best. The up-tempo identity that Indiana hopes to build on can still exist without smaller shooters at the four if their defense and rebounding improve.
“It is nice having similar personnel because they know what the expectation is, and so now we can kind of build on that,” January said. “I think the personnel we have is suited to how we want to play. I’m excited to get em’ going on [defense],” she added, noting that she likes the activity level and communication skill of the frontcourt group.
In their first preseason game, the Fever scored 109 points in a win over the New York Liberty and made 11 threes. 27 of their 39 made shots were assisted. Their rebounding focus wasn’t obvious, but Boston didn’t play. The rest of their identity was on display.
Leading up to that game, there was a focus on adding resources for player health, identifying needs in the offseason, and tweaking their play style. If those actions bear fruit, then the differences between 2025 and 2026 for the Indiana Fever could be what takes them from a pesky six seed to a threatening competitor. With such a strong top three players, the sky is the limit for this team.
