For the second time this season, the Indiana Fever find themselves without a healthy point guard on the roster. It happened to the Fever in late May, and now the team heads into the weekend dealing with the issue again. Here is a look at the situation and the options Indiana has going forward.
Caitlin Clark remains sidelined with a right groin strain. She is expected to sit out again on Saturday when the team hosts the Angel Reese-less Chicago Sky. The team currently has no timetable for Clark’s return, and they are taking a slow approach to her rehab. Indiana hopes to have her back in the lineup around the third week in August, but the situation remains fluid.
The Fever lost their other two point guards during Thursday’s game against the Phoenix Mercury. Sydney Colson got carried off the floor during the first quarter of the game. She was later diagnosed with a torn left ACL. Aari McDonald was signed to an emergency contract after the last time Indiana faced this problem. She was later signed for the rest of the season after the Fever parted ways with DaWanna Bonner in late June. McDonald broke a bone in her right foot in the fourth quarter. Both players will miss the rest of the season.
Indiana will have to play Saturday’s game with only nine players before the team can sign players to hardship contracts. The trade deadline passed on Thursday afternoon, just hours before the Mercury game, so that avenue is no longer an option. After Saturday, the Fever will have to go shopping for free agents. The team will need to sign two guards, and at least one will have to be a point guard. Indiana will most likely look to sign some combination of Odyssey Sims, Chennedy Carter, and Crystal Dangerfield.
Sims, 33, is in her 12th WNBA season and played earlier in the year with the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 9.8 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.9 rebounds in 29.5 minutes per game. Carter, 26, has not played all season. She averaged 17.5 points, 3.1 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 33 games last season with the Chicago Sky. Dangerfield, 27, was the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2020. The UConn alum split 2024 between Atlanta and Los Angeles, averaging 3.2 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.0 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per game.
Indiana has struggled with chemistry issues all season, and signing two more players this late in the season will not help that. The Fever have scratched and clawed their way to a 17-14 record, despite all the injuries and turmoil. If the playoffs started today, they would hold the fifth spot and face the Mercury in the first round, the team they just lost to 95-60 on Thursday.
If Indiana wants to avoid a repeat of Thursday in the playoffs, the team will have to mesh quickly with whoever they sign and work out everyone’s roles on the fly. Most likely, those two will be Sims and Carter. While both players can play point guard, Fever shooting guard Kelsey Mitchell will probably spend a lot of time running the offense. If Clark can get healthy this month, this team still has a chance to get in sync before the playoffs start in late September.
In the meantime, Mitchell will need to get more offensive help from Aliyah Boston, Natasha Howard, and Sophie Cunningham. Any points that Indiana gets from their new signees will be icing on the cake. They mainly need the newbies to fill minutes, play adequate defense, and distribute the ball. If they knock down a few open shots, all the better. The Fever started this season with a lot of promise. A lot will have to happen between now and the playoffs for this team to fulfill that promise. It could happen, but it looks more likely that Indiana will head into the offseason, much like they did last year, with a first-round playoff loss.
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