Amber Cox put the shopping list on the whiteboard, and the top two lines are basically "big" and "can guard." Welcome in to the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast, I'm Cera. On today's list: Cox on the frontcourt and wing holes, Clark putting on her recruiter's hat with about three and a quarter million in projected cap room, a Sophie Cunningham TikTok people are reading like tea leaves, and a schedule change for a Finals Indiana isn't playing in. Hit follow and you won't have to come looking for the next episode.
Angelo Guinhawa, writing for Athlon Sports on Yahoo:
"And I think just we need some more production out of that wing spot. And again, this gets back to like the defensive end of the floor, we got to make sure we've got people on the perimeter that can shut down some of these elite scorers in the league, which is not easy on a nightly basis.
THANK you. That's the wing thing I've been yelling about since Game 1. Somebody on the perimeter who can make an elite scorer's night miserable, and the GM says it out loud. Some context. That's from Cox's exit interview earlier this month, pulled together in a piece that went up late Tuesday. She still lists bringing back Kelsey Mitchell and working toward a Clark extension as the priorities. Then two roster needs: depth behind Aliyah Boston at the four or the five, and more out of the wing. Her overarching theme, in her words, is getting better on the defensive end. And the numbers back her. Ninth in defensive rating per Guinhawa, the only playoff team in the bottom half of the league. Vegas hangs 102 on us in Game 1 and 94 in Game 3. And A'ja Wilson goes for 36 and 10 in the decider, with no real second big behind Boston to throw at her. That's the frontcourt depth line in one box score. Guinhawa floats Napheesa Collier, Brittney Griner and Kayla Thornton as fits. That's his list, not Cox's, and nobody's reporting any talks. Collier in a Fever jersey. I'm just gonna sit with that for a second. Sit with the cap sheet first. Which takes us to Clark.
Chloe Peterson, the Fever beat reporter at IndyStar:
“It’s interesting because my first (offseason) we had some of those, then my second (offseason), just with the CBA, nobody really took visits to figure out where they wanted to go,” Clark said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of recruiting of free agents (last offseason) other than texting and calling. So I think this season will be a little bit different, and I’ll be very involved in that.”
Recruiter Caitlin! Last winter it was all texts and phone calls. This time Peterson has her looking forward to hosting free agents in Indianapolis in early 2027, and she says she'll be very involved. Get them in the building, let them see the crowd. We've already aired her Mitchell pitch, so here's what Peterson adds: the budget. IndyStar projects Indiana at roughly 3.25 million in cap space. That's without Mitchell, and without Clark's 600 thousand dollar team option. And Boston's on a supermax next season, per the same piece. So if Kelsey gets a max or supermax, that three and a quarter disappears fast. Which is why two contracts already on the books matter. Monique Billings, 800 thousand in 2027. She signed on to start and moved to the bench midseason after struggling at the four. Lexie Hull, 803,250, the three-and-D wing who struggled offensively this year. Cox just flagged the four spot and the wing. Those are the exact two spots. Okay, do not make Lexie the villain here. She guards people. I will always take the guarding. Nobody's getting cut on this podcast, Joey. I'm saying about 1.6 million of a tight budget sits at the two positions the GM just named. And Peterson has Clark and Boston both feeding Cox what they hear about fit and locker rooms. That's real input into who fills those spots.
Grant Young, writing for Indiana Fever On SI:
Granted, whether Cunningham ends up back with the Fever next season isn't entirely her choice. The front office also needs to be on board, and they will need to present her with a contract that Cunningham deems worthwhile (she was frustrated with the deal she got from them last offseason but still signed it).
Okay, the TikTok. Full Fever gear, looking around what Young says appears to be the locker room, mouthing Rihanna and T.I.'s "Live Your Life." And the lyric is "I'm not going away." Sophie knows exactly what she's doing. Young calls her one of the most calculated athletes around when it comes to posting, and he also allows it might mean nothing. It's a lip-sync. The firmer reporting runs the other way: Cydney Henderson at USA TODAY wrote Monday that Cox hopes to make Mitchell a Fever girl for the rest of her career, and was non-committal on Cunningham. Non-committal stings, I won't lie. She's the one who gets in somebody's face for her teammates. And she's unrestricted after two seasons here. Henderson raises the possibility of a third team in four years. Add the contract she was unhappy with last offseason, and the money question doesn't go away just because the song says so. Here's where I land. Cox wants wing production and perimeter defense. If Sophie's part of that answer, great, bring her back. If she's not, I'd rather find out before the free-agent visits start than decode it from a lyric.
Lindsay Gibbs, at CBS Sports:
The Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries will square off in the 2026 WNBA Finals -- with a slightly different schedule. The Dream will host Games 3 and 4 at State Farm Arena and Game 3 was moved up one day to Oct. 21 to accommodate the Finals game.
We set up this matchup on Monday's show, so the only new part is the calendar. Game 1 is still this Saturday, October 17th, at Chase Center in San Francisco. Game 3 is now Wednesday, October 21st, in Atlanta's bigger building. Game 4 is Saturday the 24th, also at State Farm Arena. Either way it's a first-time champion: Atlanta's first Finals since 2013, five-and-oh in these playoffs, against a Golden State team in only its second season. The Dream needed a bigger room. Good for them. Mildly annoying for me. Deeper benches, better defense, bigger buildings. Every game of this series is basically a scouting report on the list Amber Cox just read out.
Got a free-agent target you want us to talk about, or something we got wrong? Write to indianafeverdailyfancast at lantern podcasts dot com. We read every message, and plenty of them end up shaping the show.
Tomorrow we'll keep tracking the Mitchell and Cunningham free-agency chatter and the countdown to Saturday's Game 1. All four stories are linked in the show notes if you want the full reads. Thanks for spending part of your Wednesday with the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast, a Lantern Podcast. See you tomorrow.