Why the Indiana Fever are the most interesting team to watch when WNBA preseason games begin

Will Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell have the space to shine?

Overall, the core from the Fever last year is back. But can everyone co-exist with Clark returning? This might sound ridiculous, but it can become a problem. Aliyah Boston is a post player who needs her touches to excel. Last year, she attempted 11.5 shots per game, which was a career high. In Clark’s absence, Kelsey Mitchell stepped up and was an All-Star player and made All-WNBA First Team. Mitchell, like Boston, also had a career high in field goal attempts with 9.3 per game. If the biggest problem the Fever have is that there is just one ball, then that’s a good problem to have. However, even good problems are problems. Indiana has to figure out how to have these three All-Stars co-exist in perfect harmony. That’s a difficult thing to master on the fly. The Fever will most certainly be using training camp and preseason games to try and master the mathematics of this tricky equation. Yet, it’ll likely be a year-long work in progress and one of the most important things head coach Stephanie White will have to figure out.

Can Stephanie White push the right buttons?

Speaking of White, she’s also going to have the spotlight on her this year. She’s tasked will balancing her team’s talent, determining how much offensive responsibility will be placed Clark compared to how much usage Boston and Mitchell should recieve. White runs the show in Indy, and that’s been proven to be a good thing. Across five seasons as a head coach, White has never had a losing season. This year, with the expectation high, she’ll have to prove that she can handle all the outside noise and elevate her team’s play. We’ll begin to see that a bit this weekend when preseason begins. The Fever take the court on Saturday, meeting the New York Liberty in Brooklyn (3 p.m. ET, ION). As preseason progresses, we’ll begin to get a clearer understanding of how White envisions the rotations and responsibilities shaking out. Regardless of how good or bad things are in Indiana, one thing is for sure: It will be national news. They are the biggest thing in the WNBA, with just as many people rooting for success as there are hoping for failure. The focus is on the Fever.