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Fever end season eyeing Caitlin Clark

Indiana Fever end the season eyeing Caitlin Clark

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — First overall draft pick. WNBA All-Star. Now AP Rookie of the Year.

Center Aliyah Boston proved this season that she’s the face of the Indiana Fever in every way.

“She’s maybe generational,” Fever general manager Lin Dunn said. “She may be something that comes along once in a franchise lifetime.”

Boston is the first rookie in WNBA history to finish with the league’s best field goal percentage. She lead the rookie class in — try to keep count here — scoring, rebounds, steals, blocked shots and minutes played per game.

“She stepped in and did things that I didn’t expect,” head coach Christie Sides said. “(She) wants nothing more than for our team to win regardless of what she does on the court. I mean, we are so lucky to have her as part of this franchise, building for this franchise for the future.”

“This entire season we were able to see us grow, and that motivates us for next year,” Boston said.

Now all eyes are on the 2024 WNBA Draft. The Fever have the best chance — 44.20 percent — to get the number one overall lottery pick for the second straight year. The worst pick the Fever could get is No. 3.

Dunn knows there’s a lot of unknowns for this draft class. Many of the top names have the choice to return to campus following the season thanks to an extra COVID year.

The name on everyone’s mind — Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

“If we were to draft Caitlin Clark with the first pick, there’s no doubt in my mind there’ll be a lot of people in Iowa moving to Indiana, moving to Indianapolis, or they’d be figuring out how to come back and forth so it’s great,” Dunn said.

Whatever happens, Dunn knows this offseason will be a major boost to the franchise.

“I think we will get a significant player out of next year’s draft,” Dunn said. “I feel confident that we’ll get a significant free agent in next year’s free agency. So that’s adding two players to what we already have. But what we already have has to come back better.”

Thirteen wins doesn’t seem like very many, but for the Indiana Fever, that’s more than the last two seasons combined. The ladies had the best finish to a season since 2016 — winning five of the last eight games.

“We are not satisfied. There is nothing about this year that we are… I mean, we’re happy with a lot of things that helped us grow and get to where we are right now, but we’re not talking anything else but playoffs and championships,” Sides said. “We’re going to add some pieces that are going to get us over the top on some other things but, Day 1, we’re talking playoffs.”

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