The Indiana Fever called a team meeting Monday to sort through what has gone wrong in a 4-4 start, and Sophie Cunningham did not soften the message coming out of it. She said the group has been “too soft” and spent upwards of two hours facing the problems head-on after Saturday’s 16-point loss to the Portland Fire.
That is why Kelsey Mitchell is in the search mix now: Indiana is trying to steady itself before Thursday’s game against the Atlanta Dream, and the conversation inside the locker room turned into the story. Cunningham said the gathering “peeled back all of the layers” and was “much needed,” a sign the Fever wanted to clear the air quickly rather than let frustration linger.
The meeting came at a moment when the standings still leave Indiana very much in the race. The Fever are 2.5 games out of first place and seventh in net rating at plus-3.7, a position that suggests plenty is still in reach even if the details have not been clean. They are also just 0.2 points per 100 possessions behind the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces, which only sharpens the sense that the ceiling is higher than the record shows.
But the numbers do not hide the rough edges. Indiana was asked to iron out flaws on defense after giving up 29 points in the first quarter and 37 in the third against Portland, and the attention paid to a tense sideline exchange between Caitlin Clark and Stephanie White has only underlined the pressure around the team. The coaching staff prompted Monday’s meeting, and the fact that it ran for more than two hours says the issues were not treated like a routine film session.
For now, the Fever have made their first move by talking it through. The next test is whether that discussion shows up against Atlanta on Thursday, because a team that knows it is close to first place cannot afford to keep calling itself too soft and expect the season to wait.
