Fever looking to keep Clark fresh for potential title chase

The Indiana Fever aim to lighten Caitlin Clark's workload after injuries limited her to 13 appearances last season.

One way head coach Stephanie White hopes to accomplish that is by playing Clark off the ball more, allowing her to conserve energy on each possession and provide additional rest without having to substitute her out of the game.

"This is not some revolutionary idea," White told theScore during the team's season launch press conference earlier this week. "I think when you watch professional sport, you see that across the board. You see it in the NBA. You see it in the WNBA.

"The way that people and teams play Caitlin is different than they play everyone else. It's the nature of her skill set, of what she brings to the table, and it's really the ultimate compliment."

Clark's success with the ball in her hands is well documented. As the NCAA's all-time leading scorer and the WNBA's single-season assists record holder, the Iowa product will still serve as Indiana's primary ball-handler. She'll also continue to push the pace in transition attacks, leading the Fever's fast breaks after rebounds.

But Clark is fully on board with sharing ball-handling duties with her teammates after inbound plays, a strategy designed to counter opponents' frequent full-court pressures. She recently praised free-agent signing Ty Harris, rookie guard Raven Johnson, and backcourt partner Kelsey Mitchell for doing "a great job" spelling her now and then during training camp.

Clark highlighted that the guard trio, along with Aliyah Boston, can take turns handling the ball this upcoming season.

"It is exhausting bringing the ball up 94 feet versus pressure every single time," Clark told reporters at media day. "We certainly need to find somebody who can handle the ball a little bit and give me a little bit of a break.

Clark added: "I think (even) our fours and fives can do that. You saw (Boston) do that a lot last year when we were really in trouble injury-wise. I think there are a lot of different things that can give us a lot of different looks and just make us harder to guard more than anything."

Boston embraced the point-forward role the team thrust her into last season when Clark was sidelined, routinely bringing the ball up the floor and serving as one of the primary initiators for the WNBA's third-ranked offense.

The three-time All-Star averaged a career-high 3.7 assists during the regular season before upping that number to 4.1 in the playoffs. Thriving as a playmaking hub on the perimeter, Boston often fed Mitchell and Lexie Hull on backdoor cuts and dribble-handoffs.

Clark's return could give Boston more opportunities to facilitate, unlocking new possibilities for the Fever's offense when Clark isn't playing on the ball. White has already spent some of the preseason using Boston as the ball-handler in inverted pick-and-rolls with Clark.

"You saw it a year ago. You saw it with (Boston). ... We want to position our players to be successful," White told theScore. "Sometimes, it takes a little bit of tweaking in your thinking about how you can do that. And how you can do that while resting them in live action is really important because we don't want it to be on the other end of the floor."

Indiana's backcourt depth should not only prevent Clark from being overworked but also give Mitchell some added rest. The ninth-year guard was tremendous last season in Clark's absence, averaging a career-high 20.2 points, finishing fifth in the MVP race, and earning All-WNBA first-team honors.

However, her year ended abruptly in Game 5 of the WNBA semis against the Las Vegas Aces when she began experiencing a "numbness/paralyzing feeling" in her legs. The former No. 2 overall pick was later diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis - a rare and life-threatening condition in which your muscles break down and can occur after an injury or excessive exercise without rest, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Although Mitchell made a full recovery within two weeks, the Fever are being mindful of her playing time after she logged the fifth-most minutes in the league in 2025.

The Fever added Harris and Johnson, in part, to help keep their starting backcourt fresh. The pair's ability to run the offense brings another wrinkle for opponents by giving White the option to deploy both Clark and Mitchell off the ball in three-guard lineups.

"Ty is a player who's a combo (guard), who can play on and off the ball. Caitlin is a player who can play on and off the ball," White told reporters on draft night in April. "Raven is a point guard that primarily has had the ball in her hands. So, I think it gives us some versatility. Thankfully, having a couple of different guards gives us the ability to allow Kelsey to rest a little bit, too.

"I think we'll have a pretty good rotation when it comes to our perimeter players, especially in the one-to-two spot. I think it'll give us a lot of different ways that we can play, a lot of different matchups that we can play against."

Indiana took the Aces to overtime in Game 5 of last year's WNBA semis and were five minutes away from shocking the eventual champs for a Finals berth, without Clark and several other key contributors.

The Fever retained most of their significant pieces and brought in some fresh faces. Harris and Johnson inject some defensive tenacity into the backcourt, while Monique Billings replaces the rim-running and rebounding of the departed Natasha Howard. Veteran forward Myisha Hines-Allen should also factor into the frontcourt with her screen-setting and ability to facilitate out of the high post.

White is well aware that it takes good health and a bit of luck to win a championship. While she believes her squad is better prepared for the long haul after last season's roller-coaster experience, the coach emphasizes the importance of daily consistency to reach their championship aspirations.

"Every day you step on the floor, you know that you have an opportunity to get better and to be great. Every day, it's a choice," White said. "You don't always feel like it, and some days are better than others, but every day we have to step on the floor and have a mentality that we're gonna get better, we're gonna grow, and that we won't be denied.

"And that's something that you have to have throughout the course of not just the season, but a series in order to win a championship."