It feels like the Indiana Fever’s fortunes are tied to injuries. Last year, it was almost everybody in their core except Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. It’s three games into the 2026 season and Boston has already gone down with a lower extremity injury. It could be the same one she suffered in Unrivaled and missed the Team USA Qualifiers. But her injury has exposed a deeper problem in the Indiana Fever.
Traumatized from Caitlin Clark and the team’s injury struggles, the team tried to compensate this offseason. They signed Tyasha Harris, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and drafted Raven Johnson in that guard position. But too many cooks spoil the broth and the Fever might have missed out on the most important backup of all, one to Aliyah Boston.
“Then we saw Aliyah Boston go down with injury. The Indiana Fever do not have a good backup for her because they stacked up on undersized guards,” Rachel DeMita pointed out in her latest episode of ‘Courtside Club.’ “They don’t really have a center. They have Damiris Dantas, and she hasn’t been great. I say this with love, but we have to be honest about that. You have Makayla Timpson, who’s still very green. She’s young and fiery, but still developing. Filling that Aliyah Boston role falls on the front office.”
The Fever and Stephanie White went guard heavy and depended on Boston to fill their frontcourt. And she is capable of holding her own when fit. Boston is one of the best defenders in the league and also sharpened her facilitation last year. The backlash hasn’t just stayed limited to roster construction debates. Some voices around the Fever believe the organization itself is mishandling Caitlin Clark.
“This game should change everything in the Fever organization,” Jason Whitlock wrote.“Fire Stephanie White and the whole organization built around Caitlin Clark. Boston’s contract makes no sense if she’s not in pick-n-roll with Clark. You cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube. It’s Caitlin’s team. Period.”
The criticisms stem from the fact that the front office knew about Boston’s injury issues heading into this offseason. She has been struggling with them since Unrivaled. This is not a sudden occurrence. And even with her on the court, White has tinkered with the famous Boston-Caitlin Clark pick-and-roll, which has angered the fans further. In addition, the Fever have a major blind spot where other teams have leveled up.
“It’s not just that all the good centers were already taken or signed. They didn’t do overseas scouting,” DeMita said. “They’ve said they don’t really scout overseas, but there are so many players overseas now who want to play in the WNBA.”
It’s a pattern for the Fever. They have not been too big on scouting for a long time. Each standout they currently have has fallen into their lap. Kesley Mitchell was a No.2 pic while Boston and Clark were No. 1 picks too. Lexie Hull was a No. 5 draft pick as well. They could not build a competitive team around Mitchell for 5 years until two consecutive No. 1 picks came their way.
Just looking at top Euro League Centers, the Fever could have signed Emma Meesseman, who had a successful stint with the New York Liberty last year. She averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds and has 8 years of WNBA experience. Then there are lesser-known centers like Mariam Coulibaly, who averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds with Girona in Spain. With the resources of the Pacers, the Fever should be active in the international circuit.
On the other hand, other teams have leveled up on their scouting, especially internationally. The Lynx introduced an International Scout position this year. The Mercury scouted Jovana Nogic, who was playing in Russia and is now averaging 16 points a game while shooting 65% from beyond the arc.
The Storm is centered on two international prospects, Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam. On the other hand, Fever’s squad consists of 6 draftees. While homegrown talent can be useful, there needs to be some active squad building to go to the next level. And for Indiana, the consequences extend far beyond basketball concerns.
Aliyah Boston Injury Has Caused A PR Nightmare For The Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever are the most popular team in the WNBA, by far. They have the second highest average attendance with more than 17000 fans flocking the Gainbridge Fieldhouse and also became the first WNBA team to have 1 million instagram followers. And that is largely because of Caitlin Clark.
She brings the majority of the merchandise sales, the TV ratings and the revenue. But there is a flip side to this as well. The mistakes get compounded and this Aliyah Boston injury is highlighting them even more
“It’s like they’re a little too “everybody wins, everybody gets a participation trophy, everything is great.” They don’t want to ruffle any feathers. At the same time, while trying not to ruffle feathers within the team and the media, they’re ruffling the feathers of the fans,” DeMita said. “The discourse right now around the Indiana Fever front office, and specifically coach Stephanie White, is really bad. This is really bad PR.”
It’s still too early to judge but this Fever could turn out like the infamous Phoenix Suns. They had a superstar trio of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. They paid massive salaries to those three, which meant all outside and no depth, no rebounding and size. The role players were not good enough and the experiment failed.
It sounds like that’s where the Indiana Fever is trending right now if it’s not corrected quickly. The Suns are now known for that and the ‘Big three’ era has since been phased out in the NBA. The Fever don’t want to be known for the team that let Caitlin Clark’s prime years go to waste.
