Fever Looking to Make Major Roster Move Amid Caitlin Clark Injury

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Jun 1, 2025 10:34 PM ET

The Indiana Fever are only six games into the WNBA season, but things have gone so far sideways so fast that the team is already looking at making a big change in the roster: Adding a hardship player.

At 2-4, there's no arguing that the Fever--who entered the year with championship aspirations--are in the midst of hardship. Indiana lost star guard and MVP candidate Caitlin Clark a week ago to a quad injury, and she will be out for another week.

On Friday, the team also lost Sydney Colson (Clark's emergency backup) and wing Sophie Cunningham to injuries. While the updates on both players were encouraging, there's no telling whether they'll be back in time for the Fever's next game, against Washington on Tuesday.

There are no timelines on either injury.

With that in mind, team executive Kelly Krauskopf told reporters that the Fever are likely to sign a hardship player to fill out the roster.

"We're down. In numbers, we're down," Krauskopf said. "We're looking at adding another player to help us with our numbers and try to get people healthy. Try to get a full roster together--I mean, games are still coming. So it's going to be an adjustment. We have a good group, we have good depth, thankfully."

Could the Fever get a new player by Tuesday? "We're hoping," Krauskopf said.

Coach Stephanie White was asked what the conversations on dealing with injuries has been like.

"It's been trying to figure out all of our options," she said. "All of our options from potential hardship contract, players and who's available, to how we reimagine how we're using our players. We've had a good opportunity in practice to watch a lot of different looks and we anticipate Washington to come with a lot of pressure. So we've got to have our bigs be able to bring the ball down the floor, initiate offense, what are the best things for us to get into? Getting back to the basics and simplifying."

White was asked whether the Fever would favor the best available hardship player or one who knows the system.

"Best player available at that position who can add value on both ends of the floor. ..." she said.

"We've gotta have somebody who can help us navigate offense, handle the ball, since we're down to two healthy guards. ... We can't control everything so we will get the best player we can get."

She, too was asked whether a newcomer could be in uniform on Tuesday. "I hope so. I hope so," she said.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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