Fever lose two guards to season ending injuries

Two guards are out for the season as Indiana seeks quick fixes while Caitlin Clark remains sidelined.

Fever lose two guards to season ending injuries

Indiana Fever announced on Friday that guards Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald will miss the rest of the season after injuries in Thursday night's loss to the Phoenix Mercury. Colson tore her ACL in the first quarter, while McDonald broke a bone in her right foot during the fourth quarter. With Caitlin Clark still out, Indiana now has zero healthy point guards. The Fever can sign a player to a hardship contract after Saturday's game because they have fewer than 10 available players, but since the trade deadline has passed they can only sign free agents. Potential targets include Jaylyn Sherrod and Zia Cooke, who were recently waived, and Bree Hall, who knows the Fever system but is not a point guard. Grace Berger, who spent her first two pro seasons in Indiana, is on a seven-day contract with Dallas and could get a chance when that expires. A veteran buyout could also surface, with Lindsay Allen mentioned as a solid minimum signing if available. Without McDonald and Colson, the Fever will likely move Lexie Hull into the starting lineup and distribute playmaking duties among her, Kelsey Mitchell, and Sophie Cunningham, or run more of the offense through Aliyah Boston. The defense will take a hit at the guard position as Indiana searches for a quick fix ahead of a tight schedule.

The injury hit exposes the fragility of a thin roster and the pressure on the coaching staff to improvise. Indiana now must decide between rushing a short term fix and developing depth from within, a choice that could alter the team’s longer term trajectory. If Hull steps up as a primary playmaker, she could accelerate her growth but the transition will test the Fever’s system. The team faces a competitive rest of the season with the fewest games left in the league, meaning every result matters for playoff chances and for how the roster is built in the off season. In the broader WNBA context, this kind of crunch highlights how quickly depth becomes a deciding factor in a crowded standings race.

Highlights

The next weeks will test how quickly Indiana can adapt and how well the rest of the roster can rise to the challenge.