ESPN Gives Fever Fighting Chance to Reach WNBA Finals Despite Injuries

ESPN isn't counting the Indiana Fever out quite yet in the 2025 WNBA season.

Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull (10) high-fives her teammates Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Seattle Storm at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever defeated the Seattle Storm, 95-75. | Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever's dominant 95-75 win over the Seattle Storm on August 26 felt like the most important victory of the Fever's adversity-filled 2025 campaign so far.

The biggest reason for this is that the Storm and the Fever are both at around the same spot in the standings, and the Fever beating them on Tuesday (thus completing the season sweep over Seattle) catapulted Indiana from the No. 8 spot in the WNBA standings to the No. 6 spot, therefore trading places with Seattle.

What's more, the Fever needed to get back on track after losing two straight games to the Minnesota Lynx. Not to mention that any win increases the Fever's chances of making the playoffs, which increases Caitlin Clark's chances of returning to the court this year instead of the Fever deciding to keep her sidelined so that her groin injury can fully heal.

Aug 24, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) looks on from the bench against the Minnesota Lynx in the second half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

ESPN Assesses Indiana Fever's WNBA Championship Chances

In an August 26 article, ESPN was giving the Fever an 88.2% chance of making the WNBA playoffs. However, this came before Tuesday's game against the Storm, so it only makes sense that these odds increased after the Fever's big victory.

Now, according to ESPN's WNBA Basketball Power Index 2025, the Fever's chances of making it to the playoffs have increased to a whopping 96.2%, which fans must love to see.

And making the playoffs isn't the only thing that the Basketball Power Index assesses, as it also gives each team a percentage chance to make it to the second round, the WNBA Finals, and to win a WNBA championship in 2025.

The Fever were given a 34.2% chance to advance to the second round, a 14.1% chance to make it to the WNBA Finals, and a 3.1% chance to win a WNBA championship this season.

ESPN currently gives the Fever a 96.2% chance of making the playoffs and 14.1% chance of making the finals. https://t.co/v7kZF0ajdv pic.twitter.com/z6c5ImZjZz

— Stavros (@StavrosForever) August 27, 2025

Fans have got to be feeling good about these chances, given everything this team has endured injury-wise to this point in the season.

It would be interesting to know whether these percentages factor in Caitlin Clark making her return at some point. Common sense says it's assuming Clark does return, as it's hard to imagine the Fever finding much success in the playoffs without her.

While Indiana was expected to contend for a league championship after all the roster moves they made in the past offseason, their potential advancement to the second round of this year's playoffs should be viewed as a massive success, given how many injuries they've dealt with.

And that hunt for a Fever championship is still in the question, at least in ESPN's opinion.