The Indiana Fever are on a roll. Four straight wins, a lineup clicking like it finally believes in itself. Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell have the Fever breathing fire after a sluggish start. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Mercury—a team that played for a WNBA title last summer—are drowning.
Phoenix has just four wins, the second-worst record in the Western Conference, and is riding a four-game losing streak. They’ve lost Satou Sabally, sure. But they still run out Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, Natasha Mack, and DeWanna Bonner. On paper, this is not a rebuild. It’s a lineup full of All-Stars and proven winners. And yet, the floor keeps falling out.
Sophie Cunningham, who spent seven seasons with the Mercury before being traded to Indiana last year, isn’t sugarcoating it. “I think I’m not the only one. I think everyone around the league truly is stunned,” she said recently. “I am a little struck because you still have Kah, and she’s an elite-level scorer. You have AT, who knows how to put people in positions to score. Then you have DeWanna Bonner. She has been a great shooter for every team she’s been on. Not just a shooter, but a scorer in general.”
Cunningham’s words carry weight. She knows coach Nate Tibbetts’ system intimately, having played under him. She knows the talent in that locker room. And she’s watching the same thing everyone else is: a talented roster that can’t seem to find a rhythm.
“They have so many threats, and when they catch a rhythm, they’re gonna be scary,” Cunningham added. “But can they get it together? It has to be sooner rather than later. The season is flying by.”
The Mercury’s struggles are more than a bad stretch—they look systemic. Defensive breakdowns, offensive stagnation, and a visible lack of chemistry have plagued them. The team has not publicly diagnosed the core issue, and no single player has shouldered the blame. That silence only fuels the question: Is something deeper simmering?
Meanwhile, Cunningham is thriving in her new home. In Indiana’s win over the Toronto Tempo on Tuesday, she dropped a season-high 24 points, hitting 6 of 7 from three-point range. It’s the kind of performance that makes you wonder what Phoenix is missing. They let a sharpshooter like her walk—and now she’s lighting it up for the team that just beat them.
For the Mercury, time is running out to salvage their season. For the Fever, the sky might finally be clearing. One team is heating up. The other is a riddle no one in the WNBA can solve.
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