The Indiana Fever have captured widespread attention since drafting Caitlin Clark in 2024, an event that touched off a new era of WNBA growth and popularity. But amid championship hype coinciding with Clark's second season in 2025, the Fever have struggled for consistency and find themselves fourth in the Eastern Conference -- and holding on to the last playoff spot entering play Friday.
The Fever's tumble -- in part due to Clark's problems with injuries -- has created the conditions for a team like the Atlanta Dream to surge up the standings.
Under first-year head coach Karl Smesko, the Dream are 12-7 entering Friday night's showdown with Clark and the Fever in Indianapolis. And Smesko has fired off a kind of warning to the Fever: his Atlanta team is "really good," and on track to continue improving.
"I feel like we have a really good team," Smesko said after the Dream defeated the Golden State Valkyries on Monday. "We’re not all the way there yet. … You only got half a season left to get to where you need to be. I’m trying not to let that stress go on to the players, but we do need a sense of urgency about getting better every time we’re together."
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Smesko, who coached 22 years at Florida Gulf Coast before making the jump to The W, has overseen a dramatic improvement in Atlanta. Led by All-Star guard Allisha Gray, the Dream boast the league's third-best offense and its fifth-best defense. Smesko has implemented a style heavy on 3-point attempts, and Atlanta has responded by pouring in the points; the Dream have scored at least 90 points in eight of their 19 games this season.
“At times, we’re really good, like top of the WNBA good but it needs to be consistent throughout the entire game,” Smesko said. “Sometimes, we get to playing the scoreboard or we start to adjust what we’re doing when the plan wasn’t to adjust what we’re doing. We want to put pressure on the other team. We want the ball to keep moving for four quarters, no matter what the score is.”
The Fever have lost two of three meetings with the Dream this season, including a 77-58 defeat without Clark on June 10. With the superstar guard now back from a groin injury, Indiana will hope to keep Atlanta off-balance on Friday night -- but doing so will require a strong defensive effort to keep Gray, Rhyne Howard and Brittney Griner quiet.
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