2018 Indiana Fever season

The 2018 Indiana Fever season was the franchise's 19th season in the WNBA and their 2nd season under head coach, Pokey Chatman. The Fever began play on May 19, 2018.^[1]

2018 Indiana Fever season
Coach	Pokey Chatman
Arena	Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Attendance	6,311 per game
Results
Record	6–28 (.176)
Place	6th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Candice Dupree - 14.2 ppg
Rebounds	Natalie Achonwa - 6.9 rpg
Assists	Erica Wheeler - 4.1 apg
Media
Television	Fox Sports Indiana, WNDY-TV, ESPN2, NBATV
← 2017 season 2019 season →

The Fever started the season poorly by going 0–5 in May. Fortunes did not improve in June and the team was 1–10. The only win was 96–64 against the Atlanta Dream. However, June did include some close losses. The Fever lost to the New York Liberty 78–75 after the Liberty made a 3-pointer with 16.1 seconds left. On the 12th, the Fever lost in overtime against the Las Vegas Aces. In July, the Fever were 2–8, with the two wins coming against the perennial play-off contenders Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks. Both wins were away from home, which meant the Fever were 0–4 at home. In the final month of the season, the Fever were 3–5. They finished with a WNBA worst 6–28 final record, which was also their worst record in franchise history. Their misfortunes continued in the offseason as they lost in the draft lottery in spite of having the best odds, ending with the third selection for the 2019 WNBA draft.

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2018 WNBA draft

The Fever made three selections in the 2018 WNBA entry draft, held on April 12:

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	2	Kelsey Mitchell	United States	Ohio State
1	8	Victoria Vivians	United States	Mississippi State
2	14	Stephanie Mavunga	United States	Ohio State

Trades

Date	Trade
February 1, 2018	Acquired C Kayla Alexander and 2019 WNBA Draft third round pick via trade from Las Vegas Aces for 2019 WNBA Draft second round pick.[2]
March 6, 2018	Acquired 8th overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft via trade from Phoenix Mercury for Briann January.[3]

Personnel changes

Additions Player Signed Former team Hind Ben Abdelkader February 14, 2018[4] Hatay Cappie Pondexter July 1, 2017[5] Los Angeles Sparks

Subtractions Player Left New team Briann January March 6, 2018 Phoenix Mercury Hind Ben Abdelkader July 1, 2017[5] TBA

Roster

2018 Indiana Fever roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Height Weight DOB From Yrs F 11 Achonwa, Natalie 6' 3" (1.91m) 190 lb (86kg) 1992-11-22 Notre Dame 3 C 40 Alexander, Kayla 6' 4" (1.93m) 195 lb (88kg) 1991-01-05 Syracuse 5 F 4 Dupree, Candice 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1984-02-25 Temple 12 F 31 Taylor, Asia 6' 1" (1.85m) 167 lb (76kg) 1991-08-22 Louisville 3 G 42 Johnson, Shenise 5' 11" (1.8m) 172 lb (78kg) 1990-12-09 Miami (FL) 6 F 23 Mavunga, Stephanie 6' 3" (1.91m) 205 lb (93kg) 1995-02-24 Ohio State R F 22 McCall, Erica 6' 2" (1.88m) 184 lb (83kg) 1995-08-21 Stanford 1 G 3 Mitchell, Tiffany 5' 9" (1.75m) 152 lb (69kg) 1984-09-23 South Carolina 3 G 0 Mitchell, Kelsey 5' 11" (1.8m) 160 lb (73kg) 1995-11-12 Ohio State R G 25 Pondexter, Cappie 5' 9" (1.75m) 160 lb (73kg) 1983-01-07 Rutgers 12 G 35 Vivians, Victoria 6' 1" (1.85m) 183 lb (83kg) 1994-11-17 Mississippi State R G 17 Wheeler, Erica 5' 7" (1.7m) 143 lb (65kg) 1991-05-02 Rutgers 3	Head coach Pokey Chatman (LSU) Assistant coaches Christie Sides (Louisiana Tech) Jessica Miller (UIC) Athletic trainer Todd Champlin (Daemen) Strength and conditioning coach Chase Campbell (Ball State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Schedule

Preseason

2018 pre-season game log
May: 1–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 7 Chicago W 79–65 Mavunga (18) Tied (8) Peterson (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 4,377 1–0 2 May 12 Washington L 56–91 K. Mitchell (9) Mavunga (4) K. Mitchell (3) Acierno Arena (University of Delaware) 3,323 1–1
2018 pre-season schedule

Regular season

2018 game log Total: 6–28 (Home: 2–15 Road: 4–13)
May: 0–5 (Home: 0–3; Road: 0–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 19 Chicago L 64–82 Dupree (14) Dupree (8) Wheeler (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,565 0–1 2 May 20 @ Washington L 75–82 Achonwa (21) Achonwa (12) Wheeler (5) Capital One Arena 7,400 0–2 3 May 22 Los Angeles L 70–87 K. Mitchell (20) Achonwa (8) K. Mitchell (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 4,742 0–3 4 May 24 Washington L 84–93 K. Mitchell (25) Dupree (7) T. Mitchell (3) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 4,415 0–4 5 May 26 @ Connecticut L 77–86 K. Mitchell (18) McCall (9) Wheeler (9) Mohegan Sun Arena 5,843 0–5
June: 1–10 (Home: 1–5; Road: 0–5) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 6 June 2 New York L 81–87 K. Mitchell (26) Dupree (8) Wheeler (7) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,575 0–6 7 June 8 Dallas L 83–89 K. Mitchell (26) McCall (11) Tied (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,675 0–7 8 June 10 @ New York L 75–78 K. Mitchell (19) Achonwa (10) T. Mitchell (7) Westchester County Center 1,537 0–8 9 June 12 Las Vegas L 92–101 (OT) Achonwa (26) Achonwa (15) Wheeler (8) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,437 0–9 10 June 14 @ Atlanta L 67–72 Dupree (17) Tied (7) Wheeler (10) McCamish Pavilion 6,561 0–10 11 June 16 Atlanta W 96–64 Vivians (21) Tied (6) K. Mitchell (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,234 1–10 12 June 19 @ Los Angeles L 55–74 Achonwa (13) Achonwa (14) K. Mitchell (3) Staples Center 8,857 1–11 13 June 22 @ Seattle L 63–72 Dupree (15) Tied (7) Wheeler (4) KeyArena 8,142 1–12 14 June 24 Connecticut L 78–87 Achonwa (16) Dupree (8) K. Mitchell (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,458 1–13 15 June 27 @ Connecticut L 89–101 Vivians (25) Achonwa (6) 3 Tied (3) Mohegan Sun Arena 5,112 1–14 16 June 29 Phoenix L 77–95 K. Mitchell (19) Dupree (6) Vivians (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,241 1–15
July: 2–8 (Home: 0–4; Road: 2–4) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 17 July 1 Atlanta L 83–87 Vivians (27) Tied (7) K. Mitchell (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,277 1–16 18 July 3 @ Minnesota W 71–59 Achonwa (17) Tied (9) K. Mitchell (5) Target Center 8,632 2–16 19 July 5 @ Dallas L 63–90 Dupree (21) Tied (5) Wheeler (3) College Park Center 4,043 2–17 20 July 11 Minnesota L 65–87 Wheeler (12) Tied (6) Wheeler (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 10,006 2–18 21 July 13 @ Atlanta L 74–98 T. Mitchell (17) T. Mitchell (6) Wheeler (4) McCamish Pavilion 3,807 2–19 22 July 15 Phoenix L 82–101 Dupree (23) Dupree (9) Tied (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,302 2–20 23 July 18 @ Minnesota L 65–89 Dupree (20) Tied (4) Tied (4) Target Center 17,933 2–21 24 July 20 @ Los Angeles W 78–76 Tied (16) Achonwa (9) Tied (5) Staples Center 10,532 3–21 25 July 22 @ Las Vegas L 74–88 Achonwa (21) Tied (7) Pondexter (7) Mandalay Bay Events Center 5,368 3–22 26 July 24 Seattle L 72–92 K. Mitchell (26) Dupree (12) Tied (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,908 3–23
August : 3–5 (Home: 1–3; Road: 2–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 27 August 2 Dallas W 84–78 Pondexter (18) Achonwa (5) Wheeler (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,981 4–23 28 August 4 @ New York W 68–55 Dupree (25) Achonwa (13) Wheeler (7) Westchester County Center 2,225 5–23 29 August 7 Seattle L 79–94 Dupree (22) Dupree (8) Pondexter (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,401 5–24 30 August 10 @ Phoenix L 74–97 K. Mitchell (20) T. Mitchell (9) K. Mitchell (4) Talking Stick Resort Arena 8,860 5–25 31 August 11 @ Las Vegas L 74–92 Wheeler (13) T. Mitchell (8) Tied (5) Mandalay Bay Events Center 5,213 5–26 32 August 15 Washington L 62–76 Achonwa (15) Vivians (9) Wheeler (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,636 5–27 33 August 18 Chicago L 106–115 Dupree (30) Achonwa (11) Tied (7) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 8,442 5–28 34 August 19 @ Chicago W 97–92 Tied (22) Achonwa (9) Tied (6) Wintrust Arena 7,118 6–28
2018 season schedule

Standings

#	Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Atlanta Dream (2)	23	11	.676	–	13–4	10–7	12–4
2	Washington Mystics (3)	22	12	.647	1	12–5	10–7	12–4
3	Connecticut Sun (4)	21	13	.618	2	13–4	8–9	9–7
4	e – Chicago Sky	13	21	.382	10	7–10	6–11	6–10
5	e – New York Liberty	7	27	.206	16	4–13	3–14	6–10
6	e – Indiana Fever	6	28	.176	17	2–15	4–13	3–13

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Candice Dupree	WNBA Cares Community Assist Award	September 4, 2018	[6]

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Candice Dupree	32	32	31.4	48.8	0.0	81.9	6.4	1.7	0.9	0.3	14.2
Kelsey Mitchell	34	17	24.4	34.6	33.5	80.4	1.8	2.7	0.7	0.1	12.7
Natalie Achonwa	34	34	26.0	52.7	0.0	80.0	6.9	1.4	0.9	0.7	10.3
Cappie Pondexter	17	14	24.2	38.9	39.3	84.6	2.4	2.6	0.7	0.0	10.2
Tiffany Mitchell	34	20	25.6	37.1	26.7	83.5	3.1	2.3	0.9	0.2	9.1
Victoria Vivians	34	26	27.1	40.4	39.9	93.1	3.1	1.2	0.9	0.1	8.9
Erica Wheeler	34	22	21.7	35.1	27.6	79.7	2.9	4.1	0.8	0.2	7.8
Erica McCall	34	2	12.3	38.5	12.5	68.4	2.7	0.4	0.4	0.5	2.9
Kayla Alexander	30	0	8.6	54.1	0.0	82.4	2.2	0.2	0.1	0.3	2.7
Stephanie Mavunga	25	0	7.8	47.7	0.0	80.0	2.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	2.2
Asia Taylor	14	0	8.3	31.0	20.0	77.8	1.8	0.4	0.2	0.0	1.9