WNBA: Shorthanded Indiana Fever clinging to No. 8 playoff seed

Just two weeks ago, it looked like the Indiana Fever would cruise into the WNBA playoffs. They were coming off a convincing win over the Chicago Sky and had improved to 18-14, finally free of the up-and-down inconsistency that kept them hovering around .500 for the first half of the season.

A lot can happen in a two-week span, though, and for Indiana, not much of it has been good. The Fever have dropped four of their last five games and now sit in eighth place in the WNBA standings—just one game ahead of the Los Angeles Sparks (17-18) for the league’s lowest postseason seed—and they’re now in danger of falling out of the playoff race entirely.

The Fever have seven games remaining in the regular season, and while head coach Stephanie White insists that her team is “focusing on one day at a time,” it’s becoming more and more difficult to look at their situation optimistically. Indiana has been devastated by injuries, most recently losing guard Sophie Cunningham to a season-ending MCL tear; it’s the third season-ending injury suffered by a Fever guard, with Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson also done for the year. Indiana continues to sign replacement players, but it’s reached a point of critical mass where the level of talent the team puts on the floor is no longer enough to overcome subpar execution.

“We’ve got to find a way to make it click,” White said after the Fever’s latest loss, but that will be easier said than done. They currently have a trio of guards–Odyssey Sims, Shey Peddy and Aerial Powers–signed to seven-day contracts, and while the three players have a wealth of WNBA experience between them, there’s only so much that on-the-fly signings can contribute at this point in the season, especially with a strenuous schedule that limits practice time. Starting this Friday, Aug. 29, the Fever play six games in 10 days, and four of them will be on the road.

White isn’t wrong in her approach, though. The Fever still control their own destiny, and they can’t be worried about what the Sparks are doing behind them. They’ll need to make do with what they have, and that still includes a pair of All-Stars in Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston. Despite the team’s struggles, the duo is playing terrific basketball. Over the Fever’s last five games, Boston is averaging 15.4 points and eight rebounds per game and shooting 59.6 percent from the field, while Mitchell is scoring a massive 25.8 points per game, highlighted by a 38-point performance against Connecticut.

Caitlin Clark is inching closer to a return, but will it be in time?

The Fever’s most immediate form of possible reinforcements may already be sitting on their bench. Caitlin Clark, who has been out since July 15 with a groin injury, was recently seen by IndyStarSports’ Chloe Peterson at team shootaround. Clark was participating in non-contact drills only, but it was the first time she had participated in such drills since she got injured, raising the possibility of her playing again before the regular season ends.

The Fever have been abundantly cautious with Clark as she’s rehabbed, which is understandable considering how much she means to the franchise long-term. She suffered her first injury of the season in the Fever’s fourth game and hasn’t looked right since then, so it’s been more or less assumed that they’ve been willing to play the long game and ensure that she’s ready to go for the playoffs rather than risk further re-aggravation.

Time is running out, however, and if the Fever can’t stop their current slide, there may not be a playoff series for Clark to participate in. To miss the postseason entirely would be a notable failure for a team that entered the 2025 season with championship aspirations, and there’s mounting pressure on the Fever to get Clark back on the court so they can compete at the level promised.

Even if Indiana wins its next few games and clinches a playoff berth, there would still be reason to bring Clark back before the postseason begins. At that point, she’ll have missed around a month and a half of basketball, so the Fever won’t be able to just put her back in the lineup as if nothing happened. Some kind of ramp up will be required to get Clark back into game shape, and having spent so much time without her in the regular season, Indiana will want her to be back at full strength when the games matter most.