Fever ready for WNBA playoff fight
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The playoff-bound Fever have a lot more basketball to play in 2025. Photo: Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images
The Indiana Fever enter their final game of the regular season battered and bruised — but still in the fight.
Why it matters: A win Tuesday night over the Minnesota Lynx can help the Fever improve their playoff positioning as they make consecutive postseason appearances for the first time since 2016.
What they're saying: "With all of the stuff that we've been through, most teams would have folded. And we just kept getting stronger and we kept reinventing ourselves," Fever Head Coach Stephanie White said after Sunday's playoff-clinching blowout of the Washington Mystics.
- "These women in the locker room deserve a lot of credit for their ability to stay resilient, to stay together, to stay hungry and to stay the course."
Driving the news: The Fever (23-20) begin the most critical stretch of competition without the support of some of their biggest names.
- The team's injury report reads like an All-Star roster, with Caitlin Clark, Sidney Colson, Sophie Cunningham and others ruled out for the remainder of the season.
- The reigning Rookie of the Year has largely been absent from competition, playing just 404 minutes in 2025 compared to 1,416 in 2024.
Yes, but: The Fever — who spent much of the season relying on seven-day contracts and patchwork starting lineups to get by — still played well enough to remain in title contention.
- Stacking wins without some of the team's top players sends a message to fans that last year's playoff berth after nearly a decade of failure wasn't a fluke.
- It also sends a message to the expanding WNBA that a fully healed Fever squad is going to be a tough out for any team.
Fun fact: Only four Fever players have played every game this season.
- Kelsey Mitchell has played 1,355 minutes.
- Aliyah Boston, 1,298 minutes.
- Lexie Hull, 1,163 minutes.
- Natasha Howard, 1,040 minutes.
What's next: The Fever will need to wait for the regular season to wrap to learn who they face in the first round when the playoffs start Sunday.
- The team is currently locked in at least the No. 7 seed, but they can move up to the No. 6 seed if they win tonight and the Golden State Valkyries lose their final two games.
If you go: Fever vs. Lynx tips off at 7:30pm.
- Tickets start at $13.