Why Fever Will Face Challenge Keeping Core Around Caitlin Clark
The Indiana Fever have one of the most star-studded rosters in the WNBA—but it will be a challenge for the franchise to keep its core together going forward.
This stems from looming changes to the WNBA’s salary structure and the reality that cornerstone pieces Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston will eventually move off their rookie contracts.
That first factor will have immediate implications as soon as the league and the players' association finally come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement. This is because salaries for players are set to skyrocket in the new deal, potentially creating a roster-building squeeze under the salary cap.
Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports broke down the numbers in the league's existing proposal, citing the Fever as an example given Kelsey Mitchell's free agency and likely supermax salary. As Costabile noted, if Mitchell were to receive the new max, her contract combined with Clark's and Boston's would leave Indiana with well less than the new average player salary to spend to fill out the rest of the roster under the $5.65 million salary cap that is on the table.
When the WNBA & WNBPA finish at the bargaining table and basketball returns, the league should have its first million-dollar player.
— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) February 25, 2026
But how will the league proposed max salaries (a supermax at 20% and a standard max at 17.5%) impact the rest of the roster?…
Of course, that cap number could still rise as negotiations continue. But with max salaries expected to exceed $1 million and the average salary approaching $500,000, maintaining multiple high-level players while preserving roster depth will require careful balancing.
How This Impacts Fever for 2026 Free Agency
Assuming Mitchell is re-signed, her salary will jump more than 4x in value from the base of about $250,000 in 2025 and would account for a higher percentage of the cap as well in the current construct. And she is just one of the team's free agents.
Only Clark, Boston, and last year's rookie Makayla Timpson are currently under contract, which means key contributors like Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham will also be on the market.
Hull is a restricted free agent, which means Indiana can match any offer she receives, but her hustle and shooting has proven to be worth more than an average player. While Cunningham, who has made it clear she hopes to be back with the team, has also expressed the desire for a more secure contract. So perhaps running it back will not be as straightforward as it once seemed as the front office will be tasked with attempting to work out deals that also allow room for depth.
Fortunately, the Fever have the advantage of Clark and Boston still being under rookie scale contracts, but when they are up for extensions things could become much more difficult.
Can Fever Keep Core Together?
Last year Mitchell returned to the Fever under the core designation, meaning she received a max salary for a one-year deal. It remains to be seen how the core rule could be impacted by the CBA, but assuming it exists relative to its current form, Mitchell could be cored again to keep her with Clark and Boston short-term.
However, Boston will be entering the final season of her rookie deal, with Clark's ending after the 2027 season. Both players will surely command supermax salaries (and would seemingly be priorities for Indiana), which is the equivalent of 20% of the cap in the proposed deal. Even if that percentage comes down, keeping three max players and still having room to field a representative roster appears unlikely given what we know about how the CBA could look.
This means the Fever may be entering a limited window with the existing core, with big decisions coming sooner or later.
Robin Lundberg is a media veteran and hoops head who has spent the bulk of his career with iconic brands like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. His insights have also been featured on platforms such as Fox and CNN and he can currently be heard hosting shows for Sirius XM and on his popular YouTube channel. And now he brings his basketball expertise to Women's Fastbreak On SI and Indiana Fever On SI!
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