“Full Circle Moment” as Turner Returns to Indiana

“Full Circle Moment” as Turner Returns to Indiana

By Madie Chandler | FeverBasketball.com

“Indiana is such a big basketball state,” Brianna Turner said on Tuesday. “The fan bases, they go full out for their teams.”

Turner returns to Indiana for the 2025 Fever season after spending four years with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2015-2019. She made two trips to the NCAA National Championship with Notre Dame – once as a freshman and again as a senior.

Turner earned league all-defense nods in 2020 and 2021, and her experience in pursuit of championships at multiple levels drew the attention of Indiana’s front office during the offseason.

“The front office and the staff just really had a vision in place,” Turner said. “And I felt that I could really compliment their vision.”

Turner logged a stint in Phoenix after being selected 11th overall in the 2019 WNBA Draft, and played five seasons with the Mercury –  including a WNBA Finals appearance in 2021. She played alongside another Fever offseason acquisition in DeWanna Bonner for one season before Bonner departed for Connecticut following the 2019 WNBA season. The two will reunite in Indianapolis this summer as they set their sights on a WNBA championship.

“I followed a lot of these players throughout their college careers and professional careers,” Turner said. “So it’s kind of like a full circle moment to be on the same team with a lot of these players.”

Turner joins a Fever team that finds itself standing center stage during a massive moment in WNBA and women’s sports history. The Fever will be featured on national television in 41 of their 44 games this season – the most nationally televised games for a single team in WNBA history. For reference, the LeBron James-led Lakers were scheduled for just 39 nationally televised games at the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.

As a member of the Chicago Sky for the 2024 WNBA season, Turner got a taste of the influx of attention on the league as she played alongside the 2024 seventh overall pick, Angel Reese.

The Sky finished the 2024 season with a 13-27 record, and Turner sought to sign a contract with a team that could contend for a championship. The Fever offered her that opportunity, and she offered Indiana maturity and poise in the face of pressure.

“I think I’m a calming presence,” Turner said. “I feel like I never get too high, never get too low…but I am really competitive as well. I like to run the floor, like to play defense, like to win. And I think the Fever was the place to be if I wanted to win.”

Indiana recorded its first .500 season since 2016 last season, and ended a seven-year playoff drought in the process. With additions like Bonner and Turner, they strive to achieve more.

Turner and the rest of the new-look Fever will take the court on Saturday, May 3, as they host the Washington Mystics in preseason action. Until then, they continue to implement new talent behind the scenes, devoted to the pinnacle achievement in the WNBA – a championship.