Indiana Fever lose key transition player in Temi Fagbenle

Fagbenle, the oldest player that the Valkyries added this weekend, has four scattered years of WNBA experience under her belt. She was drafted by the Minnesota Lynx in 2016, played for the franchise from 2017 to 2019, then landed with the Fever in 2021 and playing again for Indiana in 2024.

Last season was a turning point for the Harvard and USC product. Fagbenle averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Fever, both career highs, and became a key rotation player. She started twice and played major minutes in the postseason.

“We’re lucky to have Temi here,” Fever coach Christie Sides said. “She’s been everything for us in the locker room, her veteran leadership.” Star guard Caitlin Clark agreed. “Temi’s leadership is really good. She’s just somebody that’s so vocal, and she gives 110% every minute she’s on the floor,” the rookie said.

Indiana had a +1.09 net rating with Fagbenle on the court last season, per pbpstats, and that number fell to -4.96 when she was on the bench. She was impactful for a growing Indiana Fever team and played a key part in the team’s early season turnaround.

“She’s like a deer. She can get out and run in transition defense and offense,” Indiana’s old head coach, Christie Sides, said. “She can go get rebounds… she brings a different dynamic.”

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There’s a lot of evidence that Fagbenle was good and made the Fever better. Yet she wasn’t protected, which surprised some as the up-tempo Indiana Fever move into the next iteration of their team with a new head coach.

Fagbenle can play fast and fit well in Indiana’s style last season. Those two words are crucial: last season. Last year, Indiana was guided by Sides. Thanks to the team’s early-season struggles, they changed their style and focus a few times.

New head coach Stephanie White wants to emphasize different things. She shared during her introductory press conference that her hope is for the team to be more creative. Last year, White’s Connecticut Sun had the league’s fifth-best offensive rating. The year prior, they were fourth. The Sun did that with an interior-centric style — which the Connecticut roster essentially mandated.

Back when White was the head coach of Indiana in the mid 2010s, the Fever were a more shooting-heavy team. They took more than average attempts from deep in 2015 and led the league in percentage that same season. In 2016, their attempts stayed about the same. That roster had better shooting — so they used the deep ball more often.

That’s a lot of numbers that all say the same thing: White’s offensive style typically adapts to her roster. With the 2025 Fever, that’s likely going to be a spaced-out unit headlined by as much shooting as possible around the Clark-Aliyah Boston two-player game. Last year, Indiana started to form a shooting-heavy identity by signing historically effective long-range finishers in Katie Lou Samuelson and Damiris Dantas. That would be the natural continuation with a new front office, and while Fagbenle is impressive at many things, shooting is not one of them (just 2-for-12 last season on three-point looks).

On top of that, Fagbenle is set to enter free agency next month. The Indiana Fever would have had to pay her, which on its own is not an issue. She is good and deserved a pay bump. But with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement looming and significant spending possible for the Fever in free agency this winter, what investment made sense for them to re-sign a reserve forward? That isn’t to say they shouldn’t have tried to keep Fagbenle around, it’s more to wonder what level of commitment made sense for a younger Fever team that is set up to have flexibility to add long-term pieces both this and next offseason.

Altogether, Fagbenle was one of the Fever’s best six players last season. There’s little doubt about that. But if the franchise can field a new team next year that makes it so she wouldn’t have been in the top half-dozen talents, then it might make more sense why she was left unprotected. What President Of Basketball Operations Kelly Krauskopf does in the next two months will be telling about their expansion draft decisions.

Now, the Indiana Fever need some frontcourt depth. They have some, but not enough. Aliyah Boston, NaLyssa Smith, and Dantas is a starting point. Victaria Saxton is still under contract, too. But the team needs one, maybe two, more pieces in the frontcourt. Losing Fagbenle makes that more of a priority.

The Fever do have three draft picks in 2025, including two in the top-20. They have significant cap space, too. Some of that could have gone to Fagbenle, but now it may go to a piece that Krauskopf believes fits the Fever’s updated play style — should anything change. Indiana has the resources to reshape the roster.

There are ways for the front office to bolster the frontcourt. The question they’ll have to answer is if they can replace Temi Fagbenle and her fit within the Fever’s high-paced style from last season. The Valkyries certainly thought she was good enough to add. Now the Indiana Fever will try to build without her.

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