Indiana Fever Coach Announces Change After Losing Caitlin Clark's Return Game
The Indiana Fever welcomed All-Star guard Caitlin Clark back from a five-game injury absence in Wednesday’s loss to the Golden State Valkyries. Clark, who played all 40 games in her rookie season, has missed nearly half of her sophomore campaign due to quad and groin injuries.
Fever head coach Stephanie White made an interesting decision in Clark’s return, keeping point guard Aari McDonald in the starting lineup. This created a small three-guard group for Indiana, as Clark and McDonald started alongside Kelsey Mitchell, Natasha Howard, and Aliyah Boston.
“I like the ability to have two primary ball-handlers on the floor, particularly with a team that comes aggressively in the two-man game,” White said of that decision postgame (via Chloe Peterson of IndyStar).
White added in her postgame media availability, “There were some things that we liked about it, there are some things that we don't. So we'll continue to work with that.”
This statement seemed to indicate the Clark-McDonald pairing could be here to stay for at least one more game, but that will not be the case. Speaking to reporters prior to Friday’s game against the Atlanta Dream, White announced she is reinserting Lexie Hull into the starting lineup, saying the McDonald move was specific to Golden State’s defense.
Steph White says that starting lineup with Caitlin Clark and Aari McDonald was something that was specific to the game plan against Golden State and that defense.
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) July 11, 2025
She’s planning to put Lexie Hull back into the starting lineup tonight.
Clark scored just 10 points in Wednesday’s loss to the Valkyries, which was her second-lowest scoring output of the 2025 season. On the year, the second-year guard is averaging 17.4 points, 8.8 assists, and 5.0 rebounds. Indiana is 5-5 in the 10 games Clark has played.
Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.