By Rowan Fisher-Shotton0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Through the first month of the 2026 WNBA season, the Indiana Fever have looked every bit like the championship contender they were built to be.
Indiana entered Thursday night’s clash with the Golden State Valkyries riding a three-game winning streak at 4-2, fueled by the league’s most explosive offense and another headline-grabbing stretch from Caitlin Clark.
The Fever already sit atop the Eastern Conference, and Clark has appeared in all but one game, averaging a career-high 23.8 points per game, 9.0 assists per game, which leads the WNBA, and 4.4 rebounds, while shooting 43.2% from the field and 34.8% from 3-point range.
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Their latest win came in a 90-82 victory over the Valkyries, with Clark posting 22 points, nine assists, two rebounds, one steal, and one block across 32 minutes.
But hours before Thursday’s rematch in San Francisco, Fever head coach Stephanie White delivered a telling message about the player many now view as the face of the league.
“I have so much respect and admiration for her as a player, as a person, the way that she handles herself. We are very much alike in terms of our competitive fire, our competitive spirit, our perfectionism, and type A personalities. I love going to work with her every day. I love that she loves to be coached, challenged, and pushed,” White said, speaking on “Query & Company.”
“She wants to be the best, and you want to be surrounded by people who want to be the best, so she makes it easy to come to work and to get after it every day,” White added.
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White and Clark have spent the last few weeks navigating injury management questions, heightened expectations, and nonstop scrutiny surrounding Clark’s workload and role as the centerpiece of Indiana’s title push.
White recently defended the Fever’s handling of Clark’s back soreness and has repeatedly emphasized accountability, coaching, and long-term health of the franchise's star.
That's what makes White’s latest comments especially revealing. Her insistence that Clark, one of the most scrutinized players in basketball, welcomes being “coached, challenged, and pushed” matters for a team with championship aspirations.
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Thursday’s Fever-Valkyries matchup offers the perfect stage to show whether that formula is working.
Golden State enters at 4-2 behind the WNBA’s best defense, allowing just 76.3 points per game while averaging 85.8 offensively, good for a league-best +9.5 scoring differential.
Indiana already beat the Valkyries once. Doing it again less than a week later would further strengthen its case as a legitimate title threat.
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