Stephanie White Highlights Fever Point Guard Problem After Loss to Wings
To say the Indiana Fever are shorthanded at point guard is an understatement.
It's been an injury-riddled campaign for Caitlin Clark, the star guard sidelined since July 16 with a right groin injury, her third lower-body injury of the season. But Thursday's matchup against the Phoenix Mercury dealt another blow to the Fever backcourt, as Indiana saw their remaining two point guards, Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson, suffer season-ending injuries in the same game.
The Fever felt the effects of their persisting injury woes on Tuesday night, plagued by turnovers and disorganization in an 81-80 loss to the Dallas Wings.
"Well, all of our point guards are injured. I think that's the first thing," Indiana head coach Stephanie White told media postgame after falling to a Wings squad that sat second-to-last in the WNBA at tipoff.
Kelsey Mitchell off at the buzzer. Wings beat the Fever 81-80, and the Fever have their horrible close to the third quarter to blame. 17 turnovers, awful transition defense, spacey rotations and the Fever lose one they need in the playoff race. 18-15 now.
— Tony East (@TonyREast) August 13, 2025
The Fever turned the ball over 17 times, surrendering 27 points off turnovers.
"I felt like our group did some uncharacteristic things with the ball in our hands, and it led to easy buckets," White noted. "I didn't think our attention to detail on defense was very good -- they got loose for some easy ones."
Fever Feeling Effects of Backcourt Injuries
Indiana fared well in their first game without McDonald and Colson, tallying 92 points in a blowout win over the Chicago Sky despite only having nine healthy players on the roster.
The Fever sought to address the glaring hole at point guard ahead of Tuesday's matchup against the Wings, adding veteran Odyssey Sims on a hardship contract.
Still, for the second contest in a row, Indiana's starting lineup didn't feature a true point guard. Instead, Sims came off the bench and was rather unimpressive in her Fever debut, held scoreless with 2 assists and a plus-minus of -14 in 13 minutes.
The Fever's best player is out and so is every other player who plays her position. It's not exactly inexplicable. https://t.co/pl3cpno0Q4
— Robin Lundberg (@robinlundberg) August 13, 2025
"We're working Odyssey into what we do, but still it's tough because point guards are the ones who get you organized," White explained. "There were times where we weren't organized, there were times where we were over-dribbling, got away from our off-ball actions, and went straight to trying to go one-on-one. That's when we're not successful."
Despite some lengthy lulls offensively, Indiana had a chance to pry away an improbable victory, mounting a 19-3 fourth-quarter run that fell short as Kelsey Mitchell failed to connect on a mid-range two at the buzzer.
"We shouldn't have been in that position to begin with," rookie forward Chloe Bibby relayed postgame. "The 17 turnovers got us there."
Ultimately, those lulls and miscues proved to be costly. Dallas outscored the Fever by 20 points combined in the first and third quarters, underscored by a 19-0 Wings run.
Chloe Bibby stops the run at 19-0 with a 3, but that's right after she gave the ball away on an inbounds pass. Fever will need a great fourth quarter to win today. https://t.co/m53bvmsvEp
— Tony East (@TonyREast) August 13, 2025
"In the first quarter and the third quarter, we dug ourselves a hole," White acknowledged. "I continue to be proud of the grit and toughness and resilience of this group, but our margin of error is small to begin with, and now it's even smaller."
In the grand scale of this season, it's impossible to ignore Clark's injuries. The Fever have enjoyed stretches of success without her, but the longer #22 remains tethered to the bench, the more Indiana feels the effects of her absence, particularly offensively.
It was evident in Tuesday's loss, particularly as Indiana struggled to find a rhythm offensively.
Clark is maligned for her own turnover issues, and perhaps rightfully so as her 5.1 per game are easily the most in the WNBA. Yet the Fever actually turn the ball over more without her, averaging 14.5 turnovers in 20 games without Clark as opposed to 14.1 in Clark's 13 games this season.
Above all else, Clark assumes the all-important role of Indiana's conductor on the offensive end, not just scoring in bunches but also facilitating at an elite level.
And with McDonald and Colson now out for the season, Clark's absence is even louder.
"Our margin is small, and we have to make sure our self-inflicted wounds, so to speak -- we can't afford those," White punctuated. "We've gotta be better and more locked in from the jump."
Caitlin Clark has started doing more full court running and endurance work but has not returned to practice yet according to coach White pic.twitter.com/fqptY1uMQ0
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) August 11, 2025
Caitlin Clark is a difficult player for any team to replace, let alone one that has virtually no depth at the point guard position.
Indiana has two off days before a Friday night tilt with the Washington Mystics, giving them time to better acclimate Sims into their system. Even still, it's looking like most of their backcourt issues won't be resolved until Clark is healthy enough to return.
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Lou Orlando is a Fordham University alum, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. At Rose Hill, he covered women's basketball for the university newspaper, the Fordham Ram. In addition to calling games on 90.7 FM. The Brooklyn native enjoys bagels and thinking about random early-2010s athletes, that is when he isn't penning stories for Women's Fastbreak and Indiana Fever On SI.
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