Fever raise expectations after pairing top picks Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston: ‘Sometimes losing does pay off’

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The Indiana Fever landed the sport’s biggest future star when they selected Caitlin Clark first overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Alongside the 2023 first overall pick Aliyah Boston, the Fever have a young core they hope will make them a contender for years to come.

“I guess sometimes losing does pay off,” general manager Lin Dunn said yesterday during the Indiana Fever media day.

When Dunn — who was the Fever head coach when they won their first and only championship in 2012 — returned to the organization in February 2022, the team was coming off a 6-28 season. The Fever started 2-7 and the then-interim general manager decided to make changes. Head coach Marianne Staley was out and Carlos Knox took over as interim head coach. The Fever went 5-31 in Dunn’s first season back.

Dunn brought in a new head coach, Christie Sides, to lead their team in a different direction. The franchise also got the first overall pick for the first time in 2023. The next year, Dunn and the Fever scooped up another No. 1 overall pick.

“I didn’t anticipate getting two back-to-back [first overall] picks,” Dunn added. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

Only four times in WNBA history has a franchise had consecutive No. 1 picks, and Dunn was GM for two of those franchises. While in Seattle, Dunn secured Lauren Jackson (2001) and Sue Bird (2002). Now, she has Boston and Clark.

Although Dunn is excited to be “a little bit ahead” of her three-year plan after landing Boston and Clark, she is still tempering expectations for herself, her staff and Fever fans.

“Can we challenge immediately for a championship? Let’s be realistic, we’re challenging to get into the playoffs,” Dunn said Tuesday.

Indiana has not reached the postseason since 2016 and hasn’t been to the WNBA Finals since its championship run in 2012.

CBS Sports has Indiana ninth overall in the WNBA Power Rankings, which would find them on the outside looking in once again. However, the Fever played several close games last season and hope to take the next step.

“We weren’t where we wanted to be last year, but winning 13 games, playing in 26 close games — we were in moments those players hadn’t been in before,” Sides said. “We needed to have practice in those moments.”

Sides has challenged her team to step up on the defensive side of the ball to hopefully turn a few more of their single-digit losses into wins this year. Players like Boston are up for the challenge.

“I think the biggest thing for us also is being the hardest-working team, being consistent, because when you have that and you’re going into every game you know what each other’s going to bring, you know you can rely on each other,” Boston said.

And although all of this is new to Clark, she agrees and is willing to follow her coaching staff and teammates throughout the process.

“Lin and Coach Sides, they value [relationships], they know that’s very important to create championship culture is those relationships you build with your teammates,” Clark said Wednesday. “You just can’t come in here and put 12 girls and five people on the court at once and assume that their all going to mesh.”

Building a championship team takes time. Even after Dunn brought Jackson and Bird to Seattle in 2001 and 2002, respectively, the Storm didn’t win a title until 2004. The Las Vegas Aces are two-time WNBA champions after getting three consecutive first overall picks (2017-2019), but it took time for Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young to develop as WNBA stars.

“Our goal this year is to get back to the playoffs, building blocks slowly one step at a time. You can’t put all your eggs in one basket,” Clark told reporters Wednesday. “I think our team, and all the talent on our team, can really feel the potential that this group really has.”