Monique Billings remained day-to-day on Monday as the Indiana Fever continued to navigate an early fever schedule shaped by injuries and tight minute limits. Coach Stephanie White said Billings, who sprained her ankle on May 2 in the preseason finale, would do more in practice and be evaluated after each day.
Billings did not play in Indiana’s season-opening loss to the Dallas Wings on Saturday, but she was on the floor Monday for fast-paced, non-contact drills during the portion of practice open to the media. The Fever did not conduct any contact work in those viewing periods, underscoring how cautiously they are handling her return.
White said the club was taking the same approach with three other players still working back from injury: Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston and Tyasha Harris. Boston is returning from a lower leg injury she suffered in Unrivaled in February, Hull missed all three preseason games with a hamstring issue, and Harris missed all but five games with the Wings last year because of a knee injury.
That caution was visible on Saturday. Boston played 26 minutes against Dallas and scored 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting, Hull logged 15 minutes off the bench and finished with zero points on 0-of-2 shooting, and Harris played four minutes in relief. White said the team was managing minutes early and did not want to gas out its players.
“She’ll do more in practice today, and we’ll again evaluate after every day,” White said, describing Billings’ recovery as a day-by-day process. Billings signed a two-year contract with the Fever this offseason, and Indiana is giving her workload room to build gradually rather than force a quick return after the ankle injury.
White also said the team probably should have gone back to its rotations a little bit quicker in short bursts on Saturday, a sign that the Fever are still fine-tuning how they use players who are back from injuries. Boston had missed the first two preseason games before returning in the finale, then delivered one of the team’s best performances in the opener. The Fever are trying to balance that kind of production with the risk of pushing too hard too soon.
“For us, it’s just managing minutes early,” White said. “We don’t want to gas out our players, and we probably did that in the second half, we probably should’ve went back to our rotations a little bit quicker in short minutes.”
The result is a roster being eased into the season with no shortcuts. Billings is still in the daily evaluation phase, and the Fever are limiting several key pieces at once, a reminder that the first week of the season is as much about health as it is about the standings.
