A former Fever guard goes on ESPN, Fever Twitter loses it — and meanwhile, Indiana quietly won two games without Caitlin Clark. So which one is actually the story? If you're just joining: Indiana has the talent to be in the contender conversation. The issue is late-game control and defensive steadiness when defenses load up on Clark — can Stephanie White find enough of both? Lately, the focus has shifted to counters through Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell and the screeners, especially after Mitchell's 30-point night and all that high-pressure Clark denial. Indiana Fever Daily — and today, we've got Sydney Colson on ESPN, a Week 7 power ranking reset, and a Sporting News piece teasing one 'startling truth' about those Clark-less wins. Let's sort through it. We're staying on Fever contender consistency test — follow the show and you won't miss what comes next. Sports Illustrated writes:
During a June 29 segment on ESPN, Former Indiana Fever guard Sydney Colson weighed in on whether she believed Alyssa Thomas should've received a flagrant foul for putting her closed fist on Caitlin Clark's throat during the Fever's June 25 game against the Phoenix Mercury. "Looking at the game, nobody reacted in real time. Caitlin got up ran down the court. You know, there was no indication that more was wrong," Colson said.
So Sydney Colson goes on ESPN and says nobody reacted in real time — Clark got up, ran down the court, no sign anything was wrong. And because Colson's a former Fever guard who played with Clark in 2025, that's the part stinging Fever Twitter. Right, and let's be precise about Colson here. This is a former teammate giving an opinion on ESPN, not a WNBA official's ruling or a neutral analyst breakdown. The outrage feels tied to the name more than the actual argument. And here's the thing — Colson's defense is totally different from Nate Tibbetts'. He defended Thomas on process, saying it wasn't a thorough investigation. Colson's defending her on optics: nobody flinched, so it can't be a flagrant. Those two arguments don't even line up. And that 'nobody reacted in real time' line cuts right into the officiating critique Indiana's been making all week. If Clark's composure is now evidence nothing happened, that's a strange standard. You grade the contact, not whether the player sells it. Jeremy Beren, writing in Sporting News:
Clark has been healthy for most of 2026, only missing two games as she managed lingering pain in her back. But the Fever's two games without her serve as arguably the team's two best performances this season. As Clark sat out Saturday's win over the Los Angeles Sparks, the Fever coasted to a 111-87 victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Sporting News is out here calling the Fever "downright dominant" without Clark, and look — putting 111 on the Sparks Saturday was real. Second-most points they've scored all year. I just want the honest version of it. Right: two games. That's the sample. She managed back pain, sat twice, Indiana won both — that's documented now, not theoretical. But "dominant" after two reps needs a footnote. And that footnote is who they beat. The Sparks were shorthanded, so what's earned here and what's just a good night against a thin roster? And the piece teases this "startling truth" and then never really cashes it out. I keep coming back to the mechanics more than the scoreboard: did Boston-as-hub and Mitchell creating hold up against a set defense? We'll dig into that in the Step Back. I'll just say — the 2025 version of this argument had thirteen games and a semifinals run behind it. Two June wins don't get you there. Let's not skip steps. Exactly the right comp, Joey. Last year gave us a body of evidence. This is a teaser headline. Keep those separate. From WNBA:
A 53-point outburst from Marina Mabrey, matching the WNBA’s single-game scoring record shared by A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage. A quadruple-overtime instant classic in DC as Sonia Citron and the Mystics outlasted the Fire in only the second 4OT game in league history and the first since 2001.
So the Week 7 rankings drop and it's basically a highlight reel I'm not in. Mabrey hangs 53 to tie the all-time record, Cardoso goes 13-for-13 — perfect — and Indiana's just kind of... sitting there. Right, and that's the honest read. The Fever quietly won two without Clark while the rest of the league set five records in a week. The noise wasn't Indiana this week — it was Mabrey and a four-overtime game in DC. First 4OT game since 2001, by the way. Indiana grinds out two wins and barely registers because Sonia Citron is busy making history at one in the morning. And Reeve's Lynx still have the best record in the league through seven weeks. So when we grade where Indiana landed in this reset, grade it against that — not against the discourse cycle we've been stuck in all week. Yeah. The wins are real, the slot is modest, and honestly? I'd rather be the team nobody's ranking off a 53-point night than the team everybody's arguing about on ESPN. Clark's hurt again, Indiana keeps winning without her — so how do we actually know if this offense is legitimately deeper now, or if we're just getting excited about a couple of wins against shorthanded teams? It's a fair stress test to run, and honestly, the sources give us real evidence on both sides. Start with the Sparks game: Saturday's 111-87 blowout came against a Los Angeles team missing Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink, so the Sports Illustrated takeaways say you do have to discount it somewhat. But the pattern goes beyond one night. Sporting News argues Indiana has been outright dominant in Clark's absences going back to 2025. What keeps holding up is the Boston-Mitchell partnership. Mitchell dropped 26 against the Sparks and has been the connective tissue throughout; Yahoo Sports described her as the franchise's "rock," the constant whether Clark is on the floor or not. Boston added 17, with 15 in the first half while Indiana was building the lead and setting the tone. Opta Analyst's numbers from late July put Indiana at 15-12 with Clark having missed over half their games at that point — that's a team learning to function rather than just surviving. The concern from Swish Appeal is the ceiling: Indiana ranks just seventh in offensive rating through the first 15 games, so the wins can be real and the offense can still have another level to find. If the offensive rating is sitting seventh, does that point more to defensive improvement holding scores down than to the offense actually clicking at a higher level? That's probably the sharpest thing to watch — Swish Appeal flagged that Indiana's net rating of just under plus-six is built more on defense than on offensive efficiency, so the non-Clark offense still has upside it hasn't unlocked. The IX Basketball noted that even during a three-game winning streak, Indiana was still working through 'small snags,' which feels right: real growth, uneven growth. When Clark returns, this team almost certainly gets better. The thing to watch is whether the Boston-Mitchell roles they've refined in her absence survive all the offensive gravity she brings back with her. This one's from NewsOne:
The WNBA just gave us one of those weeks where the recap almost writes itself. We got a 53-point explosion, a quadruple-overtime classic, multiple league records, an all-time milestone, a suspension controversy and an expansion team that keeps making everybody take it seriously.
Marina Mabrey dropped 53 to tie the all-time record, Cardoso went a perfect 13-for-13, we got a quadruple-overtime game — and Indiana barely shows up in this recap. Minnesota's still No. 1, Vegas is No. 2, and Golden State jumped to third after going 3-0 — including a win over the 2024 champ Liberty. An expansion team beating Atlanta twice and New York once in a week isn't a novelty act anymore. Yeah, the Valkyries are just good now. And honestly, there's something almost nice about the Fever quietly stacking wins while Mabrey and Golden State eat the headlines this week. The bridge into next week is the Commissioner's Cup tonight — Liberty hosting the Aces at Barclays, a rematch of the last two champions. That's the league-level story, and Indiana isn't in that room yet. If you like keeping up with the Fever every day, check out Angel City Daily Podcast — a daily ACFC supporter briefing with match reaction, NWSL standings, roster moves, women’s soccer in Los Angeles, and supporter buzz. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
What we’re watching next: the Liberty host the Aces tonight, June 30, in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game at Barclays Center. Minnesota’s week also includes a Sunday game against Indiana — a measuring-stick matchup for the Fever against the league’s No. 1 team.
Links to every story we touched on today are in the show notes, so head there if something caught your ear. That’s Indiana Fever Daily Podcast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.