Stephanie White Highlights Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers Matchup Before Fever-Wings
The Indiana Fever face the Dallas Wings in their second WNBA preseason game on April 30.
While Fever fans are excited about any opportunity to watch their team compete, this matchup contains extra intrigue because it includes a showdown between Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. These two have been rivals since college, are arguably the two biggest young stars in the sport, and were consecutive first overall picks in the 2024 and 2025 WNBA Drafts, respectively.
In fact, this matchup contains the past four first overall picks, as Fever center Aliyah Boston was taken first in the 2023 WNBA Draft and Azzi Fudd was the Wings' selection in this past year's WNBA Draft.
Stephanie White Conveys Excitement About Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers Matchup
Fever head coach Stephanie White has a lot to prepare her team for. Not only do Fudd and Bueckers require game planning, but the Wings have a revamped (and much improved) roster after a successful free agency period. Not to mention that the Fever and the Wings face off on opening night next month, which means this preseason contest will provide intel on how that more important game should be approached.
White addressed the intrigue around this matchup when speaking to the media on April 29. When asked about the atmosphere she expects for tomorrow’s game against Dallas, White said, “Yeah, I think it’s gonna be great. I mean, you’ve got two of the best young players in the world that are playing. [They’re] kind of highlighted, in terms of coverage. You’ve got back-to-back number one picks with Dallas, and they have a lot to be excited about. They had a great free agency, they’re gonna have a different team. Jose [Fernandez] is an outstanding coach.
“We’ve got to be prepared for a lot of different things, and just like us, it’s like they don’t have a lot of it in right now, they don’t have everybody playing right now. But it really gives us an opportunity to guard differently than we had to in our last matchup,” White continued. “So I expect it to be fun. It still is preseason, so it is what it is from that standpoint. But it should be a good atmosphere.”
Clark and Bueckers won't be playing their regular minutes on Thursday. But fans can expect to see something worth watching any time either of them touches the ball.
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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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