Amid Christie Sides Beef Rumors, Caitlin Clark Fires Off 2 Words to New Fever Coach Stephanie White
“Maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana.” When Christie Sides was fired on Sunday, the President of Basketball Operations Kelly Krauskopf mentioned their future goal. Meanwhile, Sides had just done that. She had added Clark to the roster and also taken the Fever to their first WNBA playoffs since 2016. Still, rumors circulated that Clark didn’t meet eye-to-eye with Sides. And now when Indiana has hired a new head coach, Stephanie White, Clark has shared her stamp of approval with some precious words.
On Friday, Fever declared White’s homecoming to Indiana after 8 long years. Result? The No. 22 could not help but show her excitement. “Fevvvvv shooowwwwwww,” Clark commented on the post, sharing that she was prepared to take her professional career one step further. Though it doesn’t mean that Clark was involved in Sides’ firing, it does reflect that somewhere she was happy to have White as the head coach, or probably feels more comfortable with her. The ROTY also shared the post on her Instagram story. This further fueled the rumors.
Notably, some of the instances could be highlighted here that can be connected to Sides and Clark having issues with each other when looking back. During a game in May against the LA Sparks, Clark was benched in the first quarter after Cameron Brink stole the ball from her. This led to a lot of her fans slamming Sides for it.
Thereafter, when Sides made a huddle during a tense clash against the Chicago Sky in the final minutes, the ROTY shrugged off her shoulder and walked away from it. This made many fans speculate tension between Sides and Clark.
Next, when the Fever clashed against the Seattle Storm after a few days, Sides didn’t shy away from expressing that “Caitlin Clark needs to shoot a minimum of 15 shots a game for us.” Then, Clark looked to be questioning Sides’ decision of a time-out during a game against the Dallas Wings in July.
All this made the WNBA world feel as if there were some issues between the two. While Sides’ chapter has ended, the management looks to be satisfied with White.
Kelly Krauskopf welcomes Stephanie White with open arms
“I am confident there is no one who better understands our culture or is more equipped to lead our group of players to the next level,” Krauskopf stated when White was hired. Notably, White was an assistant with Indiana from 2011-14 when they won their first and only Championship title in 2012.
Then in 2015, White was promoted to the role of head coach while Lin Dunn decided to retire from her position. In 2016, it was White who took the team to the WNBA playoffs. Thus, when speaking of knowing the culture, White is one of the best as pointed out by Krauskopf.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the management is almost the same from the time they won a Championship. While Krauskopf was the general manager at that time, she is now the President of basketball operations. Similarly, Dunn was the head coach during that time, and now she is a senior advisor with the Fever. White, as mentioned previously, was the assistant and now will be the head coach. The only new addition looks to be Amber Cox, who was with the Mercury at that time and is now the general manager.
Now that the Fever have formed the managing team that they wanted, fans expect them to have a turnaround in their fortunes. Plus, it should be noted that probably the team would be more Clark-centric than it was last season. And perhaps that will propel the Des Moines-born to win the MVP award next season, while also bringing home the silverware.
