While the Indiana Fever are already qualified for the playoffs, they still have one more hurdle to cross as they face the Connecticut Sun on Friday at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. After that, they can finally look forward to a much-needed break, thanks to the FIBA Women’s World Cup next month. However, Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston cannot take a breather just yet, as they are included in the Team USA squad alongside their head coach, Stephanie White, all of whom are heading to Berlin, Germany.
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White will be the assistant coach for Team USA under head coach Kara Lawson. While that is all well and good, her duties with the Fever will remain on hold. However, this is not White’s first rodeo with an extended mid-season break, as she also coached the Fever in 2016 when the league went on a month-long hiatus due to the Olympics.
Still, White was naturally asked about her plans for the Fever when she leaves the squad along with two of her best players for the biggest women’s international tournament.
“I think we take a lot of that and really work on player development, really work on, number one, getting back in shape because I would imagine if they have a little time off, they’re not going to do a whole lot,” Stephanie White said during media availability at Wednesday’s practice.
“Number one, getting back in shape because I would imagine if they have a little time off, they’re not going to do a whole lot. Player development, certainly being able to add. We want to be different heading into the playoffs, and we’ve got to be able to add some different things. We’ve got to make sure that that time off doesn’t cause any rust. So playing a lot, getting up and down the floor.”
White initially pointed out that the rest of the team will certainly take a rest during the first week of the break. But in the last 10 days, the Fever need to create a structure and prioritize what they can do that will help them on the court. While Stephanie White won’t be with the squad to lead the players, she announced that assistant coaches Austin Kelly and Briann January will handle coaching duties in the coming two weeks.
“We’ll be in constant communication, but they’ve been through it, so I trust them to find the right combinations,” the former WNBA Coach of the Year said.
The coach, alongside Clark and Boston, will obviously be a huge miss for the Fever during the break, but Indiana is still better off than other franchises, which have multiple important players lined up for the World Cup. For example, the New York Liberty have six key players travelling to Germany, including Breanna Stewart. Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco will certainly have a hard time constructing any sort of training camp for the weeks to come.
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The Indiana Fever are one of the big favorites to win the WNBA championship this season, so it is absolutely key that Clark and Boston return from the World Cup in perfect shape, as they are the pillars of White’s setup alongside Kelsey Mitchell.
Thankfully, Team USA has star players stacked in every position, so Clark and Boston will not have as much of a workload. So it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Clark, Boston, and Stephanie White return to Indiana with gold around their necks, even more motivated to win it all for the Fever for the first time in 2012.
The 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup will run from September 4 to September 13. Meanwhile, the WNBA will be on break from August 31 to September 16. The Fever will resume action on September 18, as they travel to Canada for the second time this season to face the Toronto Tempo.