To no surprise the Indiana Fever were inactive at this year's August 7 trade deadline. This was mostly due to them having the major pieces that they wanted and having limited cap space. But as the trade deadline has come and gone, hindsight is 20/20. Thursday night's loss to the Phoenix Mercury turned into an absolute nightmare scenario for the Fever front office staff.
It was announced late Friday morning that both Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald suffered season ending injuries. And of course, it happened after the trade deadline had passed. This puts the Fever in a very tight spot, having currently no healthy and active point guards in addition to Caitlin Clark's return still being unclear.
This very lack of consistency has caused a very unusual season for head coach Stephanie White. She hasn't been able to put a healthy team on the floor for more than a couple of weeks - or at least so it feels that way. It's been almost impossible to gauge just what this very balanced Fever team can do due to this constant obstacle.
Perhaps going into the trade deadline, the Fever had no plan to make any moves and really prior to Thursday night's game they had no reason to be active at the deadline. Many anticipated a move just simply due to the Caitlin Clark injuries this season forcing them to already make two hardship contract signings - McDonald and Chloe Bibby.
They're financially in a tough spot after the DeWanna Bonner debacle who was due a super-max contract with the Fever this year. Unfortunately, she wanted out and the Fever were unable to place her somewhere in a trade deal leading them to coming out of the situation empty handed after both parties ultimately decided to mutually part ways.
There wasn't much availability at the point guard position in terms of players the Fever can bring on for the remainder of the year, but the team did sign Odyssey Sims to a deal this past weekend. Many are hoping that due to the season ending injuries to two players that the franchise doesn't rush Clark's return - which is very unlikely. The Fever have the fourth most cap space available in the league sitting at $95,320.
They would have had more options in terms of bringing someone in on a trade had they opted to bring Bibby back on an additional seven-day contract. However, with losing two players it makes them signing her to an end-of-season contract more beneficial now that they need the depth. She's had an additional week with the team rather than a scenario that would have required them to bring her back on the roster losing time to build chemistry.
The Fever currently only have two players on their roster that have guaranteed contracts beyond 2025 - Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston. So there isn't much in guaranteed longevity in terms of other players on their roster since most of them are on one year contracts.
They currently are air tight on their draft picks next year so there may be some stock there, but the Fever weren't in any stressful need to give them up prior to the trade deadline.
Had they chosen to make a move at the trade deadline involving their draft picks next year and utilizing their cap space it would make the blow of these current injuries to Colson and McDonald a little bit more bearable. Sims softens that blow, but the damage still feels palpable.