A couple of subpar games, and Caitlin Clark was already being shipped out from the Indiana Fever. On the back of a courtside spat between Stephanie White and Clark, Lakers legend and commentator Mychal Thompson started the rumors by tweeting that the Fever “don’t want Caitlin no more.” Then, columnist Jason Whitlock took that further by suggesting that she will go to the Los Angeles Sparks, with Cori Close becoming the coach. Whitlock has repeatedly criticized White and the Fever organization for “mishandling” Clark. Nevertheless, he has clarified some of those claims by refuting any personal enmity between the two. 

Here’s what happened: A WNBA fan (Darrelynn Dunn, who is the head coach of girls’ basketball at Warrensburg-Latham), wrote a long thread where he explained the structural differences between White’s tactics in Connecticut and the Indiana Fever. He argued that with Alyssa Thomas as the point forward, White’s “heavy motion screen offense” worked better. It covered her lack of shooting and allowed her to play for the team with slow-burn half-court execution and physical defense. But for Clark, it stifles her best qualities, like her gravity downtown. And Whitlock agreed.

“This is a brilliant explanation of Steph White vs. Caitlin Clark. It’s not personal, it’s a difference in strategic philosophy,” Whitlock wrote.

With that, he indirectly confirmed that there is no feud between them. So far, both Clark and White have maintained that there is no conflict and the sideline spat was just two people trying to compete. 

“Two people being competitive. Two people that really want to win,” Clark said about her back-and-forth with White. “I think a lot of those things happen all of the time.”

However, the difference in the tactical mindset might be something to examine for the Fever. They lost against Liberty despite leading by 12 at one point. And Clark was pretty much subdued with just 10 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds while going 4-14 from the field and 2-6 from the three-point line. 

White herself admitted after the game that they did not give Clark the best chances to score: “We couldn’t get CC loose very much at all, and we have to do a better job of finding ways to do that.”

Clark moved around off the ball a lot in this game, with her usage rate coming down. That makes her more of a decoy than a facilitator. But even if the Fever decide to go with White’s proven system, they lack a viable secondary creator for Clark.

In addition, the more Clark has the ball, the better the offense has worked in the small sample size of nine games.

On the flip side, their defense has also been better with her on the ball.

At Connecticut, Stephanie White had shooters like DeWanna Bonner and Natisha Hiedeman, with Thomas creating them. 

At Fever, Clark is both the shooter and the creator. White has upped the pace as the Fever are still the fastest team in the league, but their half-court strategy could be limiting Clark and the entire team. According to broadcaster Robin Lundberg, Kelsey Mitchell’s ‘tunnel vision’ must be solved so Clark can get better looks. 

Caitlin Clark needs better support from Kelsey Mitchell after a ‘tunnel vision’ game

When Kelsey Mitchell is in form, everything looks good. The difficult shots are falling, and the Fever offense looks much better. But when she is not, it is the polar opposite. Like against the New York Liberty, Mitchell shot 7-21 from the field and 2-8 from three. It would have been one thing if it was just an off day for the elite guard, but the criticism is on her decision-making. 

“We got a little tunnel vision, I felt like, and we didn’t move the ball at times offensively,” White said.

And Mitchell, especially, was guilty of that. 

“There were a lot of times Kelsey just dribbled, dribbled, dribbled, and drove into traffic,” Robin Lundberg said. “That’s not going to cut it because if Clark is open and can relocate, you have to find her.”

Mitchell’s speed and agility make her very difficult to guard and an elite isolation scorer, but she needs to look beyond just the basket. The Fever have some elite three-point shooters in Clark and Sophie Cunningham. Mitchell can kick out the ball for an easy three using her gravity. And as a veteran, things like these are expected from her. 

She has already been criticized in the past for her lack of contribution beyond the scoreboard. And this game just aggravates those problems. The Fever as a whole needs to form an identity quickly. The season is now 10 games old, and the teams around them are improving fast. Unless they do, this team might remain a what-if rather than a realization of the years of team building.