How Fever overcame 5 season-ending injuries to make playoffs: ‘We all we got, we all we need’

• Caitlin Clark hasn’t played since July 15 after her fourth muscle injury of the year
• Point guards Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson suffered season-ending injuries on the same day, Aug. 7
• Sophie Cunningham tore her MCL on Aug. 17 and was out for the season

BALTIMORE — When Caitlin Clark got injured, it changed the scope of this Indiana Fever team.

Clark, the 2024 Rookie of the Year and first-team All-WNBA selection, has been the engine that drives the Fever. She smashed multiple league-wide records in her first season, including the WNBA assist record, on the way to leading the Fever to their first postseason appearance in seven years.

She is the Fever’s star, on the court and off. She wills her team to wins and brings in fans from across the world. But she was limited to 13 games this year because of various injuries, including four separate muscle injuries and a bone bruise in her left ankle. 

At first, it changed what people thought of the Fever: could they be successful without Clark? Is the season a wash without her?

With or without Clark on the court, the Fever were determined to have a successful season. So, Kelsey Mitchell borrowed a mantra to bring to her team: “We all we got, we all we need.”

“When CC got hurt, I felt like it was deflating,” Mitchell said on Friday night. “It was hard for people to kind of see us and see our energy for what we brought to the table as a team. Hats off to CC for being a great teammate and having to go through so much with injury, but the ‘all we got, all we need’ is a staple to who we trying to be as a team and who we want our culture to be.”

And that mantra only became more relevant as the season went on. 

Clark had multiple injuries throughout the season that limited her availability, but the right groin injury that ultimately ended her season came on July 15. A few weeks later, Clark suffered a bone bruise in her left ankle while doing an individual workout on Aug. 7. 

That same night, Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson — Indiana’s two backup point guards — suffered season-ending injuries against Phoenix. Ten days after that, Sophie Cunningham tore her MCL and was ruled out for the season. On Aug. 22, Chloe Bibby hurt her knee during pregame warmups and was eventually ruled out for the season too.

It was an unprecedented amount of adversity, having five season-ending injuries over the course of five weeks. But Indiana knew its season wasn’t over. It had to press on.

“I think just being in this locker room, we never doubt ourselves on what we’re capable of, no matter what happens,” Aliyah Boston said Sunday. “I think the entire staff, from the head down, just made great decisions when people went down on who to bring in, the type of people to bring in, and we never doubted ourselves. We never doubted that we could be in the playoffs.”

The Fever had to bring on multiple players on one or two days’ notice. Odyssey Sims joined the Fever on Aug. 10, getting one practice before playing in a game for the first time. Shey Peddy, who joined the team on Aug. 20, had two practices before playing her first game. Aerial Powers signed with the team on Aug. 23, getting just a morning shootaround before checking in for the first time.

All three of those players have become key rotational players for the Fever, and Sims is Indiana’s starting point guard. And that “We all we got, we all we need” mantra became an energizer for the Fever, especially for the players who joined midseason.

“Coming in, the first thing that really made me like, woah, was Kelsey goes during guard shootaround, ‘We all we got, we all we need,’” Powers said. “And right then and there I was like, ‘Yep, I felt it already.’ Coming in and feeling the grit, the grind that the team has, top to bottom, and being able to insert myself, it’s been amazing.”

 It showed them, at the base level, how Indiana was never going to give up even in a time of unprecedented hardship. The Fever built their culture to fight, no matter who is or isn’t on the court.

“We can’t help the ones that aren’t here, which is unfortunate, but we can help the ones who are, and be present about that and not disrespect the game,” Mitchell said. “I would like to think that CC, Aari, Syd would want to play and be in our shoes. So I think the ‘We all we got, we all we need’ is a respect thing, but to put it in the air that we all we got and we all we need, because that’s how it is, and that’s how it’s always been.”

That culture, that mantra culminated in a playoff berth for Indiana. The Fever will be no lower than the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, and could move up to six if they beat the Lynx on Tuesday and Golden State loses each of its final two games.

Indiana’s season hasn’t been what anyone expected, from the coaching staff, to the players, to the fans. But it still shows an upward trajectory for the Fever, who have now made the playoffs for two straight seasons after missing it for seven straight from 2017-23.

It’s a change in culture for Indiana, a will to fight even when it seems like all hope is lost. The Fever will bring four players on hardship waivers into the playoffs, but they’re not counting themselves out of anything.

“When you can go through and grow through these types of experiences, it lays a foundation for championship culture and championship mindset,” Fever coach Steph White said. “That’s our ultimate goal, to be able to take it one day at a time, to be able to put ourselves in a position to be in the playoffs, and now a mindset of finishing the regular season and then make a noise in the playoffs.”

Indiana’s playoff opponent hasn’t yet been determined. The Fever have one more regular season game against the Lynx on Tuesday, then will tip off the playoffs on the road on Sept. 14.

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