Indiana Fever may regret letting go of their head coach despite their first playoff appearance in seven years.
In a move that raised more eyebrows than an unexpected free throw miss, the Indiana Fever sent Christie Sides packing, despite the team’s first playoff run since checks notes… 2016! Yes, you read that right. It seems the Fever’s front office took “striking while the iron is hot” a little too literally, letting go of the coach who helped break the longest playoff drought in team history.
After all, what’s a little success when you can roll the dice on yet another coaching change, right?
Let’s not mince words—Sides showed improvement. Not just a “hey, we’re getting better” kind of improvement, but the “wow, we jumped seven wins in a season” type of progress. The Fever, who were looking as lifeless as a basketball stuck in the rafters, suddenly found themselves seeded sixth in the playoffs this season. That’s a far cry from finishing 10th in 2022.
But hey, progress is overrated, right?
Enter ESPN’s Elle Duncan, who added a splash of cold water to Indiana’s bold move. On “The Elle Duncan Show,” she questioned if the Fever might be jeopardizing player development with yet another coaching shake-up.
“You have to think about the development of the players,” Duncan mused. “This team was finally finding its groove towards the end of the season. Now, they’re going to go through another coaching change. How much are you stunting their growth? Or at least delaying it by bringing in a new regime?”
Cue the head-scratching. You can practically see Fever fans pulling out their “Rebuild Year #7” banners and wondering if they’ll need to order another.
Of course, the Fever’s front office tried to make the bitter pill a little easier to swallow by announcing Stephanie White as Sides’ successor. White is no coaching slouch—she boasts a career win percentage of .622 and has never missed the playoffs in her WNBA coaching career. That kind of stat line could make anyone feel a bit more confident, even if it means playing musical chairs with the coaching staff.
But here’s where things get spicy. Sides had the Fever playing their best basketball in the second half of the season. Post-Olympic break, Indiana went 9-5, riding the momentum of Caitlin Clark’s scorching breakout. The rookie sensation, paired with the monstrous presence of Aliyah Boston, helped bring the Fever back to relevance. Who knew good things happen when you let your coach stick around long enough to see it?
So, are the Fever shooting themselves in the foot by starting fresh with White? Duncan seems to think so, hinting that too much change, too fast, could mess with the team’s rhythm and development.
However, the pro-White camp has a pretty strong counter. Clark and Boston both survived head-coaching changes when they leapt from the NCAA to the WNBA—Boston after winning a national title with Dawn Staley and Clark following her dazzling run at Iowa. They’re adaptable, and let’s be honest, White is a major coaching upgrade on paper. If anyone can handle the transition, it’s these two rising stars.
So, while Sides may be gone, and Duncan may be raising legitimate concerns, Indiana Fever fans are left with a question to chew on over the offseason: Did the front office just bet their future on a bigger name, or are they about to watch all that progress burn up like a fast break gone wrong?
