The Indiana Fever have to reshape their front office after Kelly Krauskopf left the organization and GM Amber Cox was fired. This was year three of Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark—the exact year when teams that had back-to-back number-one picks usually compete for or win a title—and the Fever still haven’t had extensive playoff success with both of them on the floor. Since Clark missed the postseason last year, she and Boston have only won one playoff game together. So, the front office overhaul isn’t very surprising.
What was somewhat surprising was the organization’s decision to hire an assistant GM before replacing Krauskopf and Cox. ESPN’s Kareem Copeland reported on October 30 that the Fever hired Sheri Sam, who had been the scouting manager for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA since 2022, as assistant GM. Sam also has extensive WNBA experience, playing ten seasons and winning championships with the Seattle Storm and Detroit Shock between 1999 and 2008.
For the Fever’s purposes, Sam’s background in scouting and talent evaluation is her most important asset. The previous Fever front office struggled to identify the right role players to put around Clark, Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell.
The Golden State Valkyries and their front office just taught a masterclass in finding overlooked talent—both overseas and within the WNBA—and building a championship team with that talent.
Kaila Charles had been waived by the Dallas Wings before the Valkyries picked her up and turned her into a starter on a title team. Kaitlyn Chen fell to the third round in the draft, but became the Valkyries’ backup point guard during their historic run. Janelle Salaün and Aminata Gueye went undrafted, and while they didn’t play much in the playoffs, Salaün was huge during their regular season, Gueye had her big moment against A’ja Wilson, and both are still young. Even identifying Gabby Williams as a number-one option and making Veronica Burton a franchise point guard after she had almost been out of the league were huge wins.
Sam and everyone else the Fever will hire must look at what the Valkyries did and try to replicate it.
Indiana needs a better supporting cast to become a title contender
The Fever currently have seven players under contract for next season: Aliyah Boston, Monique Billings, Lexie Hull, Caitlin Clark, Raven Johnson, Makayla Timpson, and Damiris Dantas. One of the team’s priorities will be to convince Kelsey Mitchell to re-sign. Mitchell, Clark, and Boston make for a phenomenal big three, but a big three without the right supporting cast can only get you this far, especially with the defensive limitations this specific big three has.
With Clark locked in as the face of the franchise, the Fever will always have to make up for defensive deficiencies on the perimeter—and even more so if Mitchell sticks around. Mitchell put in a lot of effort on that end of the floor this season and took on tough assignments, but she is no lockdown defender.
The Fever weren’t able to mask their lack of perimeter defense. Boston was dealing with a knee injury all season long and Sophie Cunningham and Hull weren’t as good defensively as expected. Johnson, the one true lockdown defender on the Fever’s roster, was a rookie and struggled offensively, so she wasn’t always ready for big minutes.
The Golden State Valkyries’ championship run proved how much defense and depth matter. The Fever currently have neither, and they will have to change that with limited cap space. They cannot afford more contract mistakes like the big deals they gave to Billings and Hull, and they must identify overlooked talent—players who are willing to play on cheap contracts but can make an impact immediately.
Without better perimeter defense, 3-point shooting (and scoring in general) from the supporting cast, and frontcourt talent, the Fever won’t be able to get to where they need to be.
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