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Previously published 2025-26 Offseason Guides:
Chicago Sky
Connecticut Sun
Dallas Wings
Washington Mystics
Los Angeles Sparks
Golden State Valkyries
Seattle Storm
New York Liberty
Atlanta Dream
Minnesota Lynx
Indiana Fever players Kelsey Mitchell (0) and Aliyah Boston (7). Photo credit: Chris Poss
2025 record: 24-20. 4th in offensive rating, 7th in defensive rating. Finished 6th in the standings, beat Atlanta 2-1 in the first round, lost to Las Vegas 3-2 in the semifinals.
2026 draft picks: The Fever have barely touched their future draft equity with deals, so they still hold all their own 2026 picks and no extras.
Free agents: Natasha Howard (uncoreable unrestricted free agent), Kelsey Mitchell, Sophie Cunningham, Damiris Dantas, Sydney Colson, Brianna Turner, Aari McDonald (all unrestricted free agents), Lexie Hull (restricted free agent), Chloe Bibby (reserved).
Under contract: Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, Makayla Timpson.
2025 performance: Thanks to the offseason rebuilding of the roster around their stars and the arrival of new head coach Stephanie White, 2025 started with a great deal of optimism for the Fever. Ultimately, very little went to plan. There was the DeWanna Bonner experiment, signed to be a veteran presence with championship experience, but who never settled with the group before being benched, then leaving the team, then being waived. Superstar Caitlin Clark shot very poorly early in the season before being beset by various injuries and ultimately only playing 13 games all year. Fever guards were cursed all season, with veteran backup Sydney Colson and free agent success story Aari McDonald suffering season-ending injuries in the same game. Other important pieces, including Sophie Cunningham and Damiris Dantas, also missed several games, including during their playoff run. Somehow, amongst all that, White managed to hold the group together and produce a decent amount of competent basketball. Many previous Fever squads would’ve folded in the face of all that adversity; many in the years since Tamika Catchings’s retirement have folded whether there’s been any adversity or not. This year was different.
White deserves a lot of credit, but so do the mainstays the team could rely upon while everything was revolving around them. Kelsey Mitchell had the best season of her career despite all the additional responsibility thrust onto her shoulders by the ballhandlers dropping like flies around her. Aliyah Boston was her usual solid, dependable self, even if I continue to wish she took charge of games more often. And even if Bonner didn’t work out, the presence of a lot more experience on the squad proved valuable. Adding players like Cunningham and Natasha Howard meant they had people around who’d seen it all before and didn’t flinch. They almost capped it off with a fairytale playoff run, dragging the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces to overtime in a deciding Game 5, despite losing Mitchell to a scary injury later diagnosed as rhabdomyolysis. Even without Clark being involved as much more than a high-profile cheerleader, this year was a positive step for the Fever. Despite the injuries, they managed to stay competitive, finished above .500 for the first time since 2015, and suggested that they could be building towards something in future years.
Offseason finances: Once again it’s a case of a few players on rookie-scale deals, lots of free agents, and masses of cap space. Apologies for simply repeating that in every guide — this section will be much more informative and valuable in future years, I promise. The useful element for Indiana is that their roster situation is almost the exact opposite of what we detailed yesterday with Minnesota. Whereas the whole of the Lynx rotation are unrestricted free agents and they only control a couple of players on the end of the bench, the Fever have most of their best players under contract or they control their rights. Clark and Boston are still on rookie-scale, Lexie Hull is restricted, and assuming the rule still exists, they’ll presumably core Kelsey Mitchell again. While trade requests are always a possibility in this league, it makes it much less scary that the core of their roster could fall apart. It also helps sign talent around the stars, because they’re still going to be cheap for another year or two.
Offseason priorities: Obviously re-signing Mitchell will be top of the list, and the decision to core her again should be straightforward (assuming the rule persists). As with last year, they’ll have to convince her that it’s the best place for her to be, but at least they’d be able to trade her for a haul if she asks out. Her 2025 performance certainly didn’t do any harm to her trade value.
After that it’s a case of deciding who they want back and who they can attract to the cause. They’ll want Hull to return after her improvement in the last couple of years and the investment they spent in developing her, but as an RFA it might prove expensive. Cunningham’s attitude and approach seemed like a good fit, so they’ll probably try to bring her back. McDonald was also a positive addition before she got hurt. Howard seemed like a perfect fit from both sides as soon as she left Dallas, but she is 34 now and not the presence that she once was. They may feel like that’s a spot to potentially upgrade in free agency, with re-signing Howard being the fallback option. Not everyone will want to play on this franchise under the spotlight that Clark carries with her, but playing to packed out arenas every night on a team that has a chance to become a contender makes the Fever a lot more appealing than they used to be. Free agents will be taking their calls now.
Future assets: The Fever still hold their own first- and second-round picks in 2027. They gave up swap rights to their third-rounder in the massive four-team trade that landed them Sophie Cunningham before the 2025 season (those rights are tied to Dallas’s third-rounder, although that pick is now owned by Seattle). Beyond this year’s roster, the only returning rights they have are to Australian guard Kristy Wallace, who sat out the 2025 season.
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