INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever don’t have a president of basketball operations or a general manager right now, but they do have a new assistant GM.
As The IX Sports confirmed late last week via league sources, the Fever brought in Sheri Sam to the team’s front office. She holds that assistant general manager title and officially started in the role Monday.
Sam’s primary focus will be scouting and analytics — fitting after her last role was serving as scouting manager for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA. The Fever’s initial talks with Sam about joining the front office began during the summer, far before the franchise fired general manager Amber Cox and had president Kelly Krauskopf step down.
The Fever want to expand their expertise when it comes to both scouting and analytics, and the belief is Sam will help in both departments. The timing of her hire is important for those goals — the NCAA season just started, so the Fever’s new assistant GM can travel and evaluate prospects ahead of the 2027 WNBA Draft. The Fever own the 10th overall pick in the first round.
Who will be above Sam in Indiana’s leadership structure? That is still to be determined. The notebook below provides several updates about the Fever’s front office search, other staff changes, and more from an already-busy offseason in Indianapolis. And speaking of Indianapolis, that’s where Fever head coach Stephanie White was last Friday as she entered the team’s facilities in the morning with another team staffer.
What is the latest on the Fever’s front office and staff changes?
The Fever plan to hire a general manager but do not plan to bring in a president of basketball operations, league sources told The IX Sports. It’s still early in the search for a GM, but the process has accelerated and is moving quickly in recent days.
“There was not a lot of warning, and that’s okay,” Fever wing Sophie Cunningham said of the Fever’s front office shakeup. “I think that’s probably a good thing that you kind of keep it in-house a little bit… Hopefully, the Fever come in and bring people who can do a really good job with that program.”
As Sports Business Journal reported and The IX Sports can confirm, Excel Search & Advisory is guiding the search for the team’s next GM. They recently helped the Atlanta Dream and Toronto Tempo hire key executives and are also leading the search for the WNBA’s next Commissioner. Excel Sports Management also represents Fever star Caitlin Clark.
Additionally, the Fever moved on from basketball operations and equipment manager Kristin Moore, league sources informed The IX Sports.
Key detail concerning Monique Billings contract
While reporting and public databases suggest that Monique Billings‘ two-year, $1.6 million contract with the Fever is fully protected, The IX Sports has learned crucial specifics about the 2027 season of Billings’ deal.
Four league sources shared that the coming season of Billings’ agreement is only protected if she is still under her current contract after Feb. 1, 2027, meaning that Indiana could get out of her $800k deal for the coming season without making a trade.
Aliyah Boston is out for 2027 Unrivaled after surgery
Fever star center Aliyah Boston underwent a right knee arthroscopy to repair her lateral meniscus last month. Boston sustained the injury playing in the three-on-three league earlier this year and was often listed on the injury report with what the Fever called a right lower leg injury.
Although no specifics were ever offered, even after questioning, Boston said, “I definitely started the year with a lot of uncertainty. I think there were definitely some games where I was hindered a little bit,” Boston said of how the injury changed her season.
Boston’s surgery was performed by Dr. Corey Kendall at OrthoIndy and leaves her more than six months to recover before the 2027 WNBA season. She also intends to return to Unrivaled in 2028.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Fever land two on All-WNBA teams
Fever star guards Clark and Kelsey Mitchell both landed in the top five of the WNBA’s MVP voting for the 2026 season and both players, in turn, were named to the league’s All-WNBA First Team.
Clark averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists per game this season. Mitchell posted 24.7 and 2.8, respectively. They finished fourth and third in MVP voting.
The Fever’s new practice facility
The IX Sports was invited on a tour of the Fever’s under-construction practice facility after the team’s regular season ended.
The above photo shows the location where two basketball courts will eventually sit on the second floor. There were many sights to see, but this tour was more about general design than specific decor — most rooms were just concrete walls and wooden framing.
The viewing started downstairs at an entrance that will be open to the public. Fans will be able to enter a Fever team store on the ground level, and there will be more to the fan experience outside of shopping.
Elsewhere on the ground floor, just down the hallway from where Fever players will park, there will be a podcast studio, a content studio, and a salon. Almost everything that a member of the organization could want will be under one roof.
Upstairs, basketball is the focus. There will be two courts, surrounded above by a balcony with offices on the perimeter. Just off the courts is a training room — a huge glass window will separate it from the playing area.
Mere feet away are spaces for hydrotherapy, recovery, and dining. And then, a staircase up to the locker room. That locker room will be unique. Rather than just lockers for their personal items, players will each get a small pod that will be their own personal space.
Also upstairs near the locker room: A kitchen, restrooms, an outdoor eating area, a golf simulator that looks over the court, and space for child care.
Krauskopf was leading the construction project and loves how the building flows from indoors to outdoors. She was excited about the top-notch recovery area and what it will do for Fever players. “We’ll have everything from infrared saunas, red light therapy, hot tub, cold tub, different hydrotherapies,” she said.
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One hope for the Fever is that the facility will be attractive to free agents in choosing their next team. “I don’t see another building like this. So I think first of all, it sets us apart just based on what we are offering to these players. It’s a lifestyle being a pro athlete for these women,” Krauskopf said. “You’re going to spend a lot of your time in this building, and we hope that they’ll be together; they’ll enjoy it. It’s their home. And that, I think, is definitely going to be a separator.”
The plan is for the building to be open before training camp of the coming season — Krauskopf wouldn’t offer a specific date but said spring of 2027. The facility was one of her bigger focuses during her final season with the franchise.
“I’ve always wanted to build a house. I didn’t know it was going to be 100,000 square feet!” Krauskopf joked. That ended up being one of her final remarks to reporters before a transformative offseason for the franchise.
