When Caitlin Clark stepped foot at the Mohegan Sun Arena for the first game against the Connecticut Sun, she had a host of problems to look into. The Fever had a forgettable 2023 WNBA season where they failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing at the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference. To top that, Fever’s head coach Christie Sides, much like Clark, hadn’t spent much time with the franchise, and the solution to all this lay in solving one issue which Clark also spoke about. And now, much thanks to Sides, the problem has been resolved to a great extent, as per an insider source.

Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files was present in an interview with No Cap Space on Friday to shed light on the Fever’s issues and how they have overcome them. Talking about Clark’s concern which was the chemistry within the team, Agness credited Sides for having solved the problem.

“And she was like ‘look, you got to realize right now, going three weeks without games, that can be monotonous. So we got to find ways to keep it interesting, to keep the competitive juices. Not only do we do, we need to scrimmage, but we need to insert some games. And so that’s what they’ve done, right? So, they had a scavenger hunt recently. They’ve done some team-building exercises.”Agness stated via No Cap Space.

Despite having two number picks, the Indiana Fever lost 7 of their first 8 games in the WNBA 2024 regular season. While Clark was drafted as the number one pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, Aliyah Boston was the top pick during the 2023 WNBA draft. They had problems in winning consistently which showed until they emerged victorious in four games straight against the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, and Washington Mystics in June.

Then, as per Agness, Sides became “more candid as the pressers went on,” and also did “some team building exercises,” to better their chemistry. The Fever played their last game before the Olympic break against the Dallas Wings in mid-July. Then there was an almost three-week gap that could have made the players sloppy but Sides did not let that happen, as per Agness. Instead, she propagated for more scrimmages and team-building exercises. As a result, the head coach who was appointed in 2023 is on the verge of giving the Fever one of their best seasons in the past 10 years, helping them to qualify for the playoffs. But, the chemistry has changed with Sides’ new approach which was even a concern for Clark back then.

Caitlin Clark expresses her issues with chemistry

In June, when the team was going through a lean patch, Clark had divulged her take on the whole issue. As per Clark, the team needed to grow their “connection a little bit better” through chemistry which “hasn’t been there.” Plus, she also wanted to get better at “working together.” And now that we reflect on it, we can attribute the issues to maybe having a new coach and set of players who hadn’t spent much time together.

As of now, the Fever has an 11-15 tally and could be on its way to making it to the playoffs. That will be more clear when Clark & Co. starts the second half of the season. It will also be evident how the squad has utilized Sides’ plans of team building.

Hopefully, as per Agness’ revelation, Clark & Co. will have gotten better at chemistry and that will show in the season. If it does, that will also resolve Clark’s issues with her team.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.