WNBA GOES NUTS After Caitlin Clark Announced Her Departure Of America! THIS IS
HUGE!
What’s next for Catlln Clark and the Fever after elimination from the WNBA playoffs?
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The Indlana Feverstarted their season comng UP short against
theConnectlcut Sun. In the aftermath of thatMay opening-night defeat, they acknowledged their
young roster — even If led by a phenom at point guard and the reigmngRookle of the Yeann the
post — had some learning to do when It came to winning In theWNBA
After four years of playing a speclfic style at Iowa,Caltlln Clarkhad to figure out how to run a new
offensive system. Everyone else had to learn how to play off of her: Aliyah Boston would have to
make declslons out of the short roll,Kelsey Mltchellwould have the ball In her hands less. All of the
Fever players would have to run. A lot.
After a 2-9 start, Indiana made qi-JlCk progress on those fronts. The Fever won seven more games
than last season, breaking a seven-year playoff drought. They finished In the top half of league
standings and were a trendy Pick to upset Connecticut In the first round, or at least take a game
from the Sun.
From shaky start to playoff bound, how Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever revived their
season
Instead, Indiana once agan exited Connecticut acutely aware of the gap between Itself and the
league’s top tier afterbelng swept In two games. Four months after her welcome-to-the-WNBA
moment, Clark and her teammates got another lesson In postseason execution, one that they’ll
have to Sit With during the offseason as they continue their franchise rebuild.
“When you’re looking at a rebuild year, everyone wants to obviously jump to the championships
and bring home the ring and everything,” Boston said. “But I think when you look at basketball as
a whole and when you look at where you start to where you are now, It’s about stepping stones.”
When Lin Dunn returned to Indiana as the Interm general manager In 2022, she set a three-year
timeline for the Fever to return to the postseason. Coach Christie Sides thought It would take an
additional season when she signed on In 2023, but drafting Boston and Clark kept Dunn’s plan In
motion. The Fever got to the playoffs In her third season at the helm, and now they move on to
the next phase.
That means playing for championships, Dunn said.
The 2024 season proved that Clark and Boston can be foundational pieces on a title team, but
their Internal Improvement Will be key for Indiana’s progress.
Clark got stronger as the year wore on, making her a more effective shooter and driver. However,
she was still too reliant on her 3-polnt shot against better defenses. Of her 40 shot attempts
against Connecticut, 25 came from beyond the arc, despite limited success (20 percent). She
struggled smilarly In a two-game set against theAcesearher this month, shooting 3 of 18. Clark
needs to diversify her shot diet to maintain her efficiency when competition Increases.
Defense also needs to become more of a focus for Clark. She had multiple lapses againstManna
Mabreyn Game 1 , and the Fever once again spoke about miscues down the stretch of the
elimination game. Perhaps better conditioning, and more tme off before the 2025 season, Will
enable Clark to play harder on both ends, considering how the Olympic break supercharged her
performance In the second half of 2024. But she needs to Impact the game as a two-way player
for Indiana to take the next step forward.
Although ESPN reported that Clark wasn’t planning on playing overseas, she said she hasn’t yet
made that declslon. She plans to take a couple weeks off before resunmng basketball actl\/ltles,
only jokingly committing to playing a lot of golf In the near future. At the moment, Clark Isn’t
attached to any non-WNBA leagues, Including the new upcomng three-on-three league
Unrivaled. Dunn said she’d like to see Clark play some additional five-on-five before her
so homore WNBA seasom