Two major changes have already taken place in the Indiana Fever following their disappointing end to the season. Team President Kelly Krauskopf stepped down from her position, and General Manager and COO Amber Cox was let go. Those departures send a clear signal that more could be on the way, particularly as it relates to the core team, the players, and the coaching staff.

However, with reports from USA Today’s Meghan Hall suggesting that head coach Stephanie White will remain in charge, it appears that major coaching staff upheaval may not materialize. But for WNBA journalist Robin Lundberg, there has to be a fundamental change in the Fever’s entire organizational philosophy regardless of who coaches the team.

“Whoever is in charge needs to say, ‘this is Caitlin Clark’s team’ with their chest,” Lundberg said in a video shared on X. “Embrace it. Don’t hate it. Don’t tolerate it. Embrace it. They should be thinking like they are Caitlin Clark’s regime, meaning you build everything around her. The identity of the squad, the personnel that is brought in, the experience that the fans get when they know they’re tuning in to watch or buying tickets to see the Indiana Fever. Give Caitlin Clark the keys.”

The Fever announced on Friday morning that Krauskopf had chosen to step down. Approximately more than eight hours later, Cox was abruptly fired. The sequence naturally led many to speculate that White might be next in line for a departure.

That assumption is not entirely without basis. The season ended in a manner that fell well short of preseason championship expectations. 

Despite operating one of the most historically prolific offences the WNBA has ever seen, the Fever still finished as the No. 6 seed and crashed out of the playoffs in the first round. For a franchise with the talent level Indiana has assembled, that result was simply not acceptable.

Throughout the season, sideline exchanges and viral clips created a persistent impression of friction between White and Clark. The recurring question of whether White’s system truly maximises what Clark is capable of has followed the franchise from the opening weeks of the campaign. As Lundberg suggested, the current approach seems not to have demonstrated a clear commitment to building the team’s entire identity around its generational talent.

The sequence of events in the front office also leaves the door open for further change, regardless of what current reports suggest. The Fever will need to hire a new General Manager, and there remains a meaningful possibility that whoever takes on that role will not want to retain a coach appointed by the previous regime. A new GM may prefer to bring in their own person to ensure complete alignment between coaching philosophy, roster building, and team culture. That dynamic has played out across the sports world more times than it has not.

But whatever the coaching situation eventually looks like, Lundberg’s core argument remains unchanged: the Fever must be structured around Clark in every meaningful way. Whether that means aggressively re-signing elite shot-creators like Kelsey Mitchell, targeting players capable of defending the perimeter at an elite level, or implementing systems that unlock Clark’s playmaking in a way that consistently translates to winning basketball, the direction of the franchise has to flow from her. Not merely around her, but from her.

Whether that prescription ultimately takes the Fever to the championship they have always looked capable of winning remains to be seen. What is already certain is that the current system, in its structure, its roster construction, and its deployment of the most talented playmaker of her generation, did not work well enough to realise that potential. So, a change looks necessary.