Caitlin Clark and the Fever are playing with joy, and that’s bad news for the rest of the WNBA

Photo by Michael Hickey/NBAE via Getty Images

An Indiana team that once seemed destined for the lottery has blossomed into a legitimate championship contender.

Remember when the Indiana Fever was the worst team in the league, and Caitlin Clark appeared to be headed toward a really difficult rookie season?

Me neither.

The Fever began their season 1-8 and seemed destined for another year in the lottery. Early on, it felt like Indiana was getting blown out every night. There were two 36-point losses to the Liberty, a defense that was historically bad, and a rotation that didn’t quite make sense.

But all great things take time to come together, and this version of the Indiana Fever was certainly worth the wait. The Fever have won three consecutive games and are 13-6 in their last 19 games. They currently have the 6th seed — and are a .500 team for the first time since 2016.

“It feels good to be sitting at .500 right now,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said after the team blew out the Chicago Sky on Friday. “It’s been a really long time since the Fever sat at .500. I’m just really proud of that and where we are from where we started.”

Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 31 points in that one, and Kelsey Mitchell continued her stellar play. The road win in Chicago came just two days after a clutch-time victory over the veteran Connecticut Sun, in which Mitchell led the way with 23.

“For me, just the maturity and the toughness that my players showed tonight was just incredible,” Sides said after Wednesday’s win against the Sun. “We’re watching them just grow up — from where we started to where they are now.”

Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell have become the best backcourt in the WNBA

There’s no other way to put it — Caitlin Clark has been spectacular of late. Over the last 10 games, she’s been the third-leading scorer in the WNBA, averaging 23.4 points on 46.3% shooting. She’s also averaging a league-best 10.2 assists per game in that span.

Meanwhile, Kelsey Mitchell, Clark’s backcourt mate, has been even more on fire — she’s the league’s fourth leading scorer over the last 10 games, averaging 22.8 points on a scorching 51.5% shooting. She’s scored at least 20 points in six straight games, setting a new franchise record.

The only two players who have outscored Clark and Mitchell during that span are A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart — two all-time greats who each have two MVP trophies under their belt.

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It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Kelsey Mitchell, but Christie Sides praised her leadership and presence in the locker room. It’s Mitchell’s seventh year in Indiana, but she’s never made the playoffs — or come particularly close.

“Kelsey Mitchell is just the most unbelievable professional athlete that I might’ve ever been around,” Sides said. “She might not be happy all the time about certain things, but she is going to show up every single day.”

This year, her veteran presence and consistent scoring has had a monumental impact on a young roster.

“She was somebody that was right on the sideline, coaching us, talking to us, especially for myself as a rookie coming in here, like she was always a very positive voice in there and very supportive,” Clark said. “And for me, that makes you feel very welcome coming in as a rookie and getting to play with somebody that’s been really, really good for this organization. So I just feel very lucky and fortunate, because I know that’s not every situation for a rookie. I’m just very thankful.”

Lexie Hull and Aliyah Boston have also starred in their roles

When a team turns things around the way the Fever have, it’s typically the result of more than just the strong play of two players. Lexie Hull, who was barely in the rotation early on, has been a mid-season revelation — she’s hit 17 of her last 24 three-pointers, and can always be counted on to dive on the floor for a loose ball or help secure a critical defensive stop.

“Lexie stayed locked in and ready to go when her number was called,” Sides said after the Sun win. “She’s just done everything that we needed to do to get these wins and to be successful.”

Then there’s Aliyah Boston, last year’s unanimous Rookie of the Year. Boston averaged 13.6 points on 54.1% shooting over the last 10 games of the season, and has helped draw in defenders to open things up for her star teammates. She held Sun All-Star center Brionna Jones to just two points on Wednesday, and similarly helped limit the Sky’s frontcourt of Kamilla Cardoso (6 points on 1-4 FG) and Angel Reese (10 points, 4-9 FG).

“AB is that dominant post player that kind of gets everything loosened up for the outside because if we get her touches, they’re going to collapse on her,” Sides said. “And if they don’t, great — that’s great for her, that’s great for us.”

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Could the Fever contend for a championship?

The Fever went from hoping to avoid being the worst team in the league to the sixth seed in a matter of just a few months. Over the past 10 games, they’re tied for the second-best record in the league with the Minnesota Lynx, at 7-3. Over the past 5 games, they have the highest point-differential.

A championship is probably still a reach, but the Fever have racked up some meaningful wins during that stretch — and have demonstrated that different players will step up for Indiana in different moments.

After the win against the Sun — who entered the game the second-best team in the league— Lexie Hull made clear that the group’s confidence has no bounds.

“We’re taking every game as it comes, one at a time, and to get a win tonight, some people might count this game off for us, but I know we came in really motivated, really excited and believing that we could get the dub,” Hull said. “Just really proud of how our group kind of stayed together throughout all four quarters.”

The improvement has been undeniable even to their fiercest opponents.

“They have a lot more experience now — playing a lot harder, more comfortable,” Alyssa Thomas said after the Sun fell to the Fever for the first time this season.

The offensive connectivity has come, the defense has improved, and Mitchell and Clark have learned to play together at a rapid pace. But perhaps more important to the Fever’s long term success — they’re playing with a completely different emotion: joy.

“Joy is something that we couldn’t find a lot early,” said Sides. “And I have preached that from the beginning, that you’ve got to have fun playing this game, and you’ve got to have that joy is so important. When we came out of the Olympic break and won those two games, it was a different feel out there. And that’s what we talked about — there’s this joy, there’s this excitement, and it’s created this new different feeling around our team.”

Anyone who tunes into a Fever basketball game can see it. The only question remaining is how far that joy will take them.