Why Natasha Howard's Indiana Fever Exit Was Inevitable
On April 12, news broke that veteran forward Natasha Howard had signed a two-year, $1.4 million deal with the Minnesota Lynx, thus ending her second stint with the Indiana Fever.
When assessing Howard's 2025 campaign with Indiana, different people will likely come to different verdicts. Some will say that she was a successful signing, which is shown by her 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, and starting in all 44 of the Fever's regular season contests.
While this was the lowest-scoring output she had since a COVID-shortened 2020 season, her scoring role was reduced because of the firepower around her. Her job was instead to get timely baskets and contribute on defense, both of which she did.
Why Natasha Howard's Fever Fit Wasn't Quite Right
But Howard also frustrated many Fever fans, largely because she didn't seem to fit well alongside Caitlin Clark. She didn't spread the floor with shooting (which is crucial when playing with No. 22), and doesn't have great hands and wasn't able to catch many of her passes; she wasn't particularly good in transition, and the offense often felt stagnant whenever the ball was in her hands.
Even Clark herself (who has been known to show her emotions on the court from time to time) showed some exasperation when Howard had the rock. One example of this came during one of the Fever's games against the Atlanta Dream, when Clark passed the ball to Howard and literally stopped to tie her shoe while Howard was working iso in the paint (which resulted in a missed layup).
😭😭😭😭🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/oESJlTK2Kn
— correlation (@nosyone4) April 12, 2026
Granted, Clark needed to tie her shoe at some point. But the timing and her disengaged nature led fans to believe there was something deeper to the timing of CC's move.
Not to mention that Howard's $214,466 salary was the second-highest on the Fever last year. And while she took a relatively team-friendly deal with Minnesota, keeping her might have meant that the Fever didn't have cap space to bring Sophie Cunningham back.
Monique Billings Appears to Be An Upgrade
The good news is that Indiana has already replaced Howard with Monique Billings, who is better in transition, can space the floor, and has better chemistry with Clark, which was shown by their time playing on Team USA together this offseason.
Plus, Billings has more of an affable and energetic personality, which seems like a better locker room fit compared to Howard's reserved nature.
Therefore, it's hard to imagine Fever fans missing Howard much in 2026.
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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