The Indiana Fever are trying to build a contender around Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. One look at the two teams competing in the WNBA Finals right now tells a lot about what Indiana’s roster is missing and what the front office needs to improve.
One of the biggest differences between the Fever and the two teams left in the championship race is defense. The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries are excellent defensive teams. Indiana is not.
Moreover, the finals are showing how helpful international scouting can be in rounding out rosters with cheap, young talent that’s ready to contribute right away. The Fever have not been great at that.
Indiana needs a better defensive infrastructure
The Dream and Valkyries had three players on the All-Defensive teams each—their starting centers and point guards, as well as a wing. When healthy, Aliyah Boston can be an All-Defensive-level center. But that doesn’t help the Fever very much when they cannot guard anyone on the perimeter.
The only guard/wing currently on the Fever roster who has a shot at eventually competing for an All-Defensive team is Raven Johnson. But her offense isn’t good enough to elevate her into a bigger role yet.
If the Fever want to compete for a title, they need a better defensive infrastructure around Caitlin Clark—and Clark herself needs to improve. But that’s difficult to accomplish with their financial limitations, and that’s where international scouting comes in.
International scouting can unearth cheap contributors
The Valkyries are the prime example of a team that benefits from good international scouting. Janelle Salaün is the first unanimous Sixth Player of the Year in league history and Aminata Gueye was able to make a playoff impact after playing just four minutes in the regular season. Moreover, the Valkyries still have Iliana Rupert, who is pregnant, and their first-ever draft pick, Juste Jocyte, under contract, and Miela Sowah is on a development contract.
Salaün makes just $500,000 as a rotational player for a finals team—less than Sophie Cunningham and Monique Billings, who came off the Fever’s bench and weren’t nearly as productive. Gueye, who only signed with the team in September, makes just under $11,000. They are also just 25 and 24, respectively, so there’s still plenty of room for growth.
The Dream aren’t relying on as much international talent as the Valkyries, but their draft-and-stash pick of Isobel Borlase really paid off. Borlase, a WNBL MVP, just recorded 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block in a finals game as a rookie. Her contract only sweetens the pot. The Dream have a reliable bench contributor and won’t even have to pay her more than $300,000 until the 2028 season, and even that year of her contract is a steal.
Between the money Aliyah Boston already makes and what it will cost to re-sign Kelsey Mitchell—if she wants to return to Indiana—and give Clark the EPIC extension she is eligible for, the Fever could really use some cheap, young role players who have years of experience playing overseas instead of coming to the W straight from college.
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