ESPN’s Ranking of Indiana Fever’s Roster Core Says it All

The Indiana Fever being a bottom-dweller in the WNBA standings for much of the past decade afforded an awesome silver lining: getting several top picks in recent WNBA Drafts. And the Fever have crushed in selecting players who’ve already made major impacts for the franchise, both on and off the court.

The best examples of this are with Lexie Hull (who Indiana selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA draft), Aliyah Boston (the Fever’s No. 1 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft), and Caitlin Clark (their No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft). All three of these players have thrived for the Fever and appear to be key building blocks as the franchise looks to become a championship contender.

On June 5, ESPN released a ranking of the WNBA’s current roster cores. And the Fever getting ranked at No. 1 was to be expected.

“It’s no surprise to see the Fever here with the brightest group of young stars in the WNBA. With Clark and Boston, Indiana has the No. 1 picks from the 2023 and 2024 drafts — each of whom went on to win Rookie of the Year in back-to-back seasons as well. When healthy (and both have been extremely durable throughout college and the pros, up until Clark’s recent injury), no team has a dynamic duo this good and this young,” ESPN’s Neil Payne wrote.

“That’s particularly true when you consider how well their games complement each other’s, with Clark serving as the WNBA’s ultimate heliocentric perimeter creator and initiator, and Boston scoring inside the arc with high volume and efficiency. The two took some time to figure out how to mesh in Clark’s rookie season last year, but both were improving their numbers early this season before Clark got hurt. Boston has a sky-high 65.7 True Shooting % (TS%) this season, for instance, while scoring 16.8 points per game.

“Don’t sleep on Hull, either; the fourth-year guard out of Stanford has improved each year of her WNBA career and is tracking for a breakout performance,” he added.

Fever fans are hoping this young core can catapult their team into a title challenger in 2025.