Stephanie White Admits 'Unfamiliar' Feeling With New Fever Guard Kyra Lambert
On August 14, the Indiana Fever announced that they had signed guard Kyra Lambert to a seven-day contract, which they were allowed to do with the recent season-ending injuries to guards Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald.
Lambert has never played in the WNBA before. Rather, she has spent her professional career playing overseas, most recently with Olympiacos in the Greek A1 League. During her most recent season with Olympiacos, the 28-year-old Lambert (who played college basketball at Duke and then Texas) averaged 15.4 points per game, while shooting 42.1% from three-point range, to go along with 6.3 assists.
The Fever's front office deciding to sign Lambert was surprising, if only because she is essentially unknown within the women's basketball community.
Fever Coach Stephanie White Gets Honest About Kyra Lambert
In fact, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White admitted she doesn't know much about Lambert when speaking with the media after her team's Thursday practice.
"We've seen Odyssey [Sims] in this league, and we know what she does. Kyra is a little bit more unfamiliar," White said, per a YouTube video from Tony East. "So trying to find the best positions to put her in."
White was later asked whether Kyra had been on her radar before this signing, and whether her name was in the mix when the Fever added other guards via hardship contracts earlier this year.
"No," White responded bluntly.
She was then asked what about Lambert makes her the right fit for the Fever right now, and said, "I think number one, her preparation. From the initial phone call that Amber [Cox] and Kelly [Krauskopf] had, to our conversations. She has been watching the team, she's studying what we're doing, studying how we've played opponents on both ends, what we've done to attack, what we've done on the defensive end."
"[Lambert's] ability to get downhill, she's got some speed and quickness as well," White added. "So all of those things are what we need, and what we miss without having Aari and Syd on the floor."
It will be interesting to see how much playing time Lambert receives when the Fever face the Washington Mystics on Friday, and whether she can make any sort of impact for the Fever's offense.
What's for sure is that the team could use star guard Caitlin Clark's groin to heal up as soon as possible so that she can return to the court.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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