The Indiana Fever have three players competing in Unrivaled this WNBA offseason: Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, and Katie Lou Samuelson. Hull and Boston were already in action on opening night, as Boston’s Vinyl got the 79-73 win over Hull and her club.
Samuelson was the last Fever player named to an Unrivaled roster, joining Sabrina Ionescu, Marina Mabrey, Satou Sabally, Brittney Griner, and Natasha Cloud on the Phantom Basketball Club. The Phantom were already bit by the injury bug before even playing a single game. Marina Mabrey will be out for two to four weeks with a right calf injury.
As a result of the injury, the Phantom signed Natiesha Hiedeman on a relief player contract. Hiedeman was the backup point guard for a Minnesota Lynx team that went all the way to the 2024 WNBA Finals. Despite her addition to the roster, the Phantom will likely need Katie Lou Samuelson to step up. An expanded role for Samuelson in Unrivaled could have benefits for the Indiana Fever as well.
Filling a bigger role in Unrivaled will prepare Samuelson for the Fever’s next season
The Fever have big plans for the future, and rightfully so. When a team gets the chance to draft two talents like Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark in consecutive years, there is no time to waste. Both have already established themselves as All-Star-level players in the WNBA and are eager to compete.
To do that, they need the right pieces and capable players around them. Katie Lou Samuelson was not at her best last season. After sitting out the 2023 WNBA season due to her pregnancy, Samuelson’s production dropped off. She averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 assists per game and converted only 34.9 percent of her field goal attempts and 33 percent of her 3-point attempts.
After taking a season off and recovering from pregnancy, a down year is not very surprising. Still, the Fever will need Samuelson to be better next season. Ideally, she will get back to shooting around 35 percent from three and averaging more than five points a game.
Playing a bigger role for her club in Unrivaled should certainly help with that. Considering the fast-paced style of the full-court 3-on-3 game, every player competing in Unrivaled will be in great shape to start the 2025 WNBA season. For Samuelson, playing in Unrivaled will also offer an opportunity to work on her shot while playing meaningful games. This may be just what she needs to get her groove back and put together another successful WNBA season, as the Fever try to stake their claim as one of the better teams in the league.
Indiana likely won’t have a quiet offseason and might even land another star, but if the Fever truly want to compete with the likes of the New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces, and Minnesota Lynx, they will need everyone on the roster to contribute.