2019 Indiana Fever season

The 2019 Indiana Fever season was the franchise's 20th season in the WNBA and their 3rd and final season under head coach, Pokey Chatman. The Fever opened the season on May 24, 2019 against the New York Liberty.^[1]

2019 Indiana Fever season
Coach	Pokey Chatman
Arena	Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Attendance	5,887 per game
Results
Record	13–21 (.382)
Place	4th (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Team Leaders
Points	Kelsey Mitchell – 13.6 ppg
Rebounds	Teaira McCowan – 9.0 rpg
Assists	Erica Wheeler – 5.0 apg
Media
Television	Fox Sports Indiana, WNDY-TV, ESPN2, NBATV
← 2018 season 2020 season →

The Fever had a promising start to their season, winning three of their first four games. However, from there they lost eight of their next ten to finish June with a 5–9 record. July proved disastrous for any playoff hopes the team had. Six losses in the month were book-ended by two wins. One bright spot from July was that Erica Wheeler was named WNBA All-Star Game MVP. The Fever's form improved into August where they posted a 4–5 record. Winning their last two games proved too little too late, as they missed out on a playoff spot for the third straight year.

After the season, it was announced that General Manager and Head Coach Pokey Chatman would not return for the 2020 season.^[2]

Transactions

WNBA draft

See also: 2019 WNBA draft

The Fever made three selections in the 2019 WNBA draft, which was held on April 10:

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	3	Teaira McCowan	United States	Mississippi State
3	25	Paris Kea	United States	North Carolina
3	28	Caliya Robinson	United States	Georgia

Trades and roster changes

Date	Details
February 1, 2019	Signed F Natalie Achonwa[3][4]
	Signed G Shenise Johnson[3][4]
	Signed Erica Wheeler[3][4]
February 5, 2019	Signed G/F Betnijah Laney[5][6]
February 18, 2019	Signed F Asia Taylor to Training Camp Contract[7]
April 12, 2019	Signed G Crystal Bradford to Training Camp Contract[8]
	Signed G Bria Gross to Training Camp Contract[8]

Roster

2019 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 4 G 25 Burke, Kennedy 6' 1" (1.85m) 182 lb (83kg) 1997-08-16 UCLA R F 4 Dupree, Candice 6' 2" (1.88m) 178 lb (81kg) 1984-02-25 Temple 13 G 42 Johnson, Shenise 5' 11" (1.8m) 172 lb (78kg) 1990-12-09 Miami (FL) 6 G 7 Kea, Paris 5' 9" (1.75m) 142 lb (64kg) 1996-04-07 North Carolina R G 44 Laney, Betnijah 6' 0" (1.83m) 160 lb (73kg) 1993-10-29 Rutgers 3 F 23 Mavunga, Stephanie 6' 3" (1.91m) 205 lb (93kg) 1995-02-24 Ohio State 1 F 22 McCall, Erica 6' 2" (1.88m) 184 lb (83kg) 1995-08-21 Stanford 2 C 15 McCowan, Teaira 6' 7" (2.01m) 239 lb (108kg) 1996-09-28 Mississippi State R G 3 Mitchell, Tiffany 5' 9" (1.75m) 152 lb (69kg) 1994-09-23 South Carolina 4 G 0 Mitchell, Kelsey 5' 11" (1.8m) 151 lb (68kg) 1995-11-12 Ohio State 1 G 35 Vivians, Victoria 6' 1" (1.85m) 183 lb (83kg) 1994-11-17 Mississippi State 1 G 17 Wheeler, Erica 5' 7" (1.7m) 143 lb (65kg) 1991-05-02 Rutgers 4	Head coach Pokey Chatman (LSU) Assistant coaches Christie Sides (Louisiana Tech) 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

2019 pre-season game log
May: 3–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 14 @ Chicago Sky W 69–58 K. Mitchell (11) McCowan (8) K. Mitchell (4) Wintrust Arena 4,033 1–0 2 May 16 Chicago Sky W 76–65 T. Mitchell (15) Tied (7) Wheeler (8) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 3,794 2–0 3 May 19 @ Dallas Wings W 71–66 K. Mitchell (26) McCowan (6) Johnson (6) College Park Center 3,428 3–0
2019 pre-season schedule

Regular season

2019 game log Total: 13–21 (Home: 7–10 Road: 6–11)
May: 1–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 May 24 @ New York Liberty W 81–80 T. Mitchell (22) Dupree (7) Wheeler (5) Westchester County Center 1,965 1–0 2 May 28 @ Connecticut Sun L 77–88 Wheeler (26) Dupree (8) Wheeler (9) Mohegan Sun Arena 4,781 1–1
June : 4–8 (Home: 2–4; Road: 2–4) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 3 June 1 New York Liberty W 92–77 K. Mitchell (23) McCowan (6) Wheeler (6) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,003 2–1 4 June 7 Dallas Wings W 79–64 Achonwa (17) Tied (11) Wheeler (9) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 3,671 3–1 5 June 9 Phoenix Mercury L 87–94 K. Mitchell (26) Achonwa (7) K. Mitchell (6) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 3,336 3–2 6 June 11 Seattle Storm L 82–84 K. Mitchell (21) Dupree (15) K. Mitchell (7) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 3,506 3–3 7 June 13 @ Dallas Wings W 76–72 Dupree (20) Laney (11) T. Mitchell (5) College Park Center 3,562 4–3 8 June 15 Chicago Sky L 64–70 K. Mitchell (16) T. Mitchell (8) Wheeler (8) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 4,715 4–4 9 June 19 @ Atlanta Dream L 78–88 Dupree (19) McCowan (14) Wheeler (5) State Farm Arena 6,474 4–5 10 June 21 @ Chicago Sky W 76–69 Wheeler (28) McCowan (13) Wheeler (8) Wintrust Arena 4,945 5–5 11 June 23 @ Seattle Storm L 61–65 Wheeler (18) McCowan (13) Wheeler (4) Alaska Airlines Arena 7,211 5–6 12 June 25 Minnesota Lynx L 74–78 K. Mitchell (17) 3 tied (7) Wheeler (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 4,692 5–7 13 June 28 @ Phoenix Mercury L 69–91 Dupree (15) McCowan (10) Wheeler (3) Talking Stick Resort Arena 9,435 5–8 14 June 29 @ Las Vegas Aces L 97–102 (OT) K. Mitchell (21) Achonwa (9) Wheeler (8) Mandalay Bay Events Center 4,581 5–9
July : 2–6 (Home: 1–3; Road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 15 July 5 @ Dallas Wings W 76–58 T. Mitchell (16) McCowan (12) Wheeler (7) College Park Center 5,093 6–9 16 July 10 Las Vegas Aces L 71–74 Dupree (13) McCowan (12) Wheeler (7) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 9,247 6–10 17 July 12 Los Angeles Sparks L 84–90 Tied (11) 3 tied (5) K. Mitchell (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,849 6–11 18 July 14 Connecticut Sun L 63–76 K. Mitchell (14) McCowan (8) Tied (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,434 6–12 19 July 19 Washington Mystics L 88–95 (OT) Wheeler (18) Achonwa (12) Wheeler (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,726 6–13 20 July 21 @ Chicago Sky L 70–78 Wheeler (13) McCowan (16) Wheeler (9) Wintrust Arena 6,614 6–14 21 July 23 @ Phoenix Mercury L 77–95 Wheeler (18) McCowan (9) Wheeler (9) Talking Stick Resort Arena 8,528 6–15 22 July 31 Atlanta Dream W 61–59 Wheeler (15) McCowan (14) K. Mitchell (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,702 7–15
August : 4–5 (Home: 3–2; Road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 23 August 3 Minnesota Lynx W 86–75 K. Mitchell (20) McCowan (8) K. Mitchell (9) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,884 8–15 24 August 8 @ Washington Mystics L 78–91 K. Mitchell (18) Mavunga (6) K. Mitchell (6) St. Elizabeth's East Arena 3,013 8–16 25 August 10 Atlanta Dream W 87–82 Wheeler (19) Dupree (9) Wheeler (7) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 7,923 9–16 26 August 18 @ Washington Mystics L 68–107 T. Mitchell (17) McCowan (10) Achonwa (5) St. Elizabeth's East Arena 4,034 9–17 27 August 20 New York Liberty L 76–82 McCowan (24) McCowan (8) Tied (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,340 9–18 28 August 22 @ Los Angeles Sparks L 65–98 K. Mitchell (14) McCowan (7) Wheeler (6) Staples Center 8,816 9–19 29 August 25 @ Seattle Storm W 63–54 McCowan (22) McCowan (19) Tied (3) Alaska Airlines Arena 8,076 10–19 30 August 27 Las Vegas Aces W 86–71 McCowan (24) McCowan (17) 4 tied (4) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 6,958 11–19 31 August 29 Los Angeles Sparks L 83–87 McCowan (24) McCowan (10) K. Mitchell (5) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,641 11–20
September : 2–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 32 September 1 @ Minnesota Lynx L 73–81 Dupree (18) McCowan (11) T. Mitchell (6) Target Center 8,833 11–21 33 September 6 @ New York Liberty W 86–81 K. Mitchell (22) McCowan (13) Wheeler (6) Westchester County Center 2,301 12–21 34 September 8 Connecticut Sun W 104–76 K. Mitchell (38) McCowan (9) Laney (7) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 5,451 13–21
2019 season schedule

Standings

#	Eastern Conference v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Washington Mystics (1)	26	8	.765	–	14–3	12–5	13–3
2	Connecticut Sun (2)	23	11	.676	3	15–2	8–9	11–5
3	Chicago Sky (5)	20	14	.588	6	12–5	8–9	11–5
4	e –Indiana Fever	13	21	.382	13	7–10	6–11	7–9
5	e –New York Liberty	10	24	.294	16	4–13	6–11	3–13
6	e –Atlanta Dream	8	26	.235	18	5–12	3–14	3–13

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date awarded	Ref.
Candice Dupree	WNBA All-Star Selection	July 15, 2019	[9]
Erica Wheeler
Teaira McCowan	WNBA All-Rookie Team	September 16, 2019	[10]

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

Source:^[11]

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kelsey Mitchell	34	20	25.1	38.7	37.4	83.6	1.6	2.6	0.4	0.1	13.6
Candice Dupree	34	34	30.7	47.2	0	83.9	5.0	2.5	0.4	0.6	11.6
Erica Wheeler	34	34	25.0	42.8	38.4	87.2	3.0	5.0	1.2	0.1	10.1
Teaira McCowan	34	16	22.1	51.7	0	68.7	9.0	0.2	0.6	1.3	10.0
Tiffany Mitchell	33	14	25.2	38.1	29.0	89.2	2.8	2.2	0.6	0.1	9.7
Natalie Achonwa	30	18	21.1	48.8	25.0	90.9	5.2	1.6	0.6	0.7	8.7
Betnijah Laney	34	27	25.8	36.2	30.3	58.1	4.2	1.7	1.4	0.1	5.6
Shenise Johnson	17	0	12.9	33.3	24.2	93.8	2.1	1.1	0.7	0.1	12.9
Kennedy Burke	31	7	13.6	38.5	35.0	70.5	1.5	0.7	0.6	0.3	4.4
Paris Kea	11	0	5.5	40.7	55.6	50.0	0.5	0.5	0.1	0.2	2.6
Stephanie Mavunga	24	0	8.5	51.1	0	70.6	2.3	0.2	0.3	0.3	2.5
Erica McCall	15	0	6.9	13.6	0	100	1.8	0.4	0.1	0.4	0.9