Changes and awards have come to the Indiana Fever. What’s next?

This week, Clark was named the WNBA Rookie of the Year. She fell one vote short of it being a unanimous decision. This comes not long after she finished fourth in MVP voting, and she was named to the 2024 All-Rookie team on Thursday.

It was a monster first campaign for Clark. Out of the gate, she struggled somewhat adjusting to a new league. But once the Iowa product tweaked her offensive approach, she was one of the most potent offensive players in the league. Taking out the Fever’s season finale — a game in which Clark had limited playing time ahead of the postseason — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft averaged 21.7 points and 9.8 assists per game across 25 outings.

“I am incredibly honored to be named Rookie of the Year, but more than that, I am grateful to everyone that supported me throughout this past season – my family and friends, my teammates, the Fever organization and everyone that cheered us on all season. I am so proud of what we accomplished and so excited for what the future holds,” Clark said.

Clark taking home some hardware was essentially a formality. She ran away with the award late in the season. What was less of a formality was the front office shakeup that has taken place for the Indiana Fever in the last few weeks.

In late September, Kelly Krauskopf was named the President of Basketball and Business Operations for the franchise. Krauskopf used to guide the Fever. She drafted Tamika Catchings, hired Lin Dunn as head coach, and built the only Indiana squad that won a WNBA title. She made the Fever the dominant franchise that they were for much of the 2000s and 2010s before leaving the team for a front office role with the Indiana Pacers in December of 2018.

Now, she’s headed back to the franchise that she was the top executive with for 19 years. At the time of her hire, the assumption was that she would be working alongside Lin Dunn, who started as general manager of the Fever in 2022

“I’m thrilled that she’s back,” Dunn said of Krauskopf. “She’s here to take us forward. Her experience in the WNBA, her experience building this franchise, her knowledge… it’s the perfect time for her to lead us in the future to the next step.” Dunn added that it’s a big-plus for the franchise.

In hindsight, Dunn’s next quote should have been telling. “I look forward to working with her in whatever capacity she needs me to,” Dunn said of Krauskopf taking over the head title in the front office. 11 days after the first front office move was announced, another one came through — Amber Cox has been hired as the Chief Operating Officer and General Manager beginning on October 28. Dunn will move to a Senior Advisor role.

Cox has been with the Dallas Wings, Connecticut Sun, and Phoenix Mercury before her jump to the Fever. “I have known Amber for over 20 years and have watched her successfully build teams both on and off the court,” Krauskopf said in a statement. Cox has been involved in many successful teams with both Connecticut and Phoenix.

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The Fever’s front office looks totally different. Hillary Spears is still the assistant general manager, The Next has learned, but the roles above her have both changed going forward. It’s now on Krauskopf and Cox to lead the Fever forward and build off of the success that Clark and her teammates had in 2024.

The front office moves come at a fascinating time, yet they line up with many past statements Dunn has made. When she was hired, she told the franchise about her three-year plan to pull the Indiana Fever from the WNBA basement and back into the spotlight. It was a success, undoubtedly. There’s still work to do, yet Dunn changed a ton.

In a one-on-one conversation with The Next last season, Dunn believed that the organization was on track when it came to her plan. The year prior, her timeline was made public. “I agreed to do this [job] for two years. I also provided Pacers Sports and Entertainment with a three-year plan,” Dunn said in 2022. “If, after two years, we’re on track to accomplish what we want to, would I be willing to stay on for a third year or a fourth year or whatever they need me to do? My job is to bring stability to this franchise… I have a plan to do what needs to be done.”

The team dropped the interim tag from her job title in January of 2023. Her three-year plan, or perhaps more fittingly three-season plan, would have come to an end after the most recent campaign. While the specifics of the move won’t be known until Krauskopf, Dunn, or Cox speak to reporters — which will happen this week — the shifting sands in Indiana should not come as a huge surprise.

Under Dunn, so much changed. 10 of the Fever’s 12 current players were acquired by the former GM — only Temi Fagbenle and Kelsey Mitchell were acquired by previous Indiana decision makers. The coaching staff changed twice, going from Marianne Stanley to Carlos Knox to Christie Sides, with Dunn at the helm.

The Fever finally had some lottery luck in the last few years. Perhaps Dunn’s legacy will come down to being a well-timed good luck charm. But she deserves to be remembered for more than that. The culture and tenor of the franchise has drastically changed, and everything is trending in the right direction. They packed a rebuild into a two-year span.

Now, the new front office in Gainbridge Fieldhouse is in charge of keeping the Fever headed in the right direction. They have to build around Clark — as well as All-Stars Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston. Mitchell is a core-eligible free agent, and her future is the most important immediate step for new Fever brass. Nearly as important will be navigating the upcoming expansion draft(s) and the new upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement. Things will change in Indiana.

Krauskopf and Cox will guide the franchise through it all. Krauskopf was with the Fever during the previous WNBA expansion draft in 2008, so she knows what this all takes.

She also knows what her team and leadership is all about. Back in 2022, when the Fever hired Sides as the head coach, Krauskopf spoke with The Next about her role in that hiring process. “I got a first-hand look at her knowledge, her communication skill; she had great leadership presence as an assistant coach. I was a big fan from the beginning,” Krauskopf said of Sides. The current head coach was an assistant for the Fever during Kruaskopf’s first stint as GM. “She’s just the right fit at the right time.”

They’ll now work together to push the franchise forward. With Clark, Boston, and Mitchell, there is a great base in place for the Indiana Fever. New leadership will try to take that group to a championship.

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