The Fever’s season ended on Thursday night. Two days on, the organization remains in the news cycle. Predictably, it’s for reasons other than the team’s on-court play.
Indiana’s fanbase returned to the spotlight after Aces star A’ja Wilson got into a brief dustup with a Fever supporter in Game 2. The incident lingered even after Las Vegas downed Indiana in Game 3, proving a major talking point during Indiana’s exit interviews on Saturday afternoon.
Here’s what you need to know.
MORE: Fever’s Sophie Cunningham blasts A’ja Wilson for Game 2 fan incident
What did the Fever GM say about attacks against fanbase?
Indiana general manager Amber Cox pushed back on the suggestion that the Fever’s fanbase is disproportionately more abusive than any other one in the league.
Fever GM Amber Cox:
“The attacks on our fanbase have no basis in reality, and they need to stop.”pic.twitter.com/DvZKdtbWIh
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) October 3, 2026
“The attacks on our fanbase have no basis in reality and they need to stop,” Cox said.
She cited the media’s portrayal of Indiana’s fans as being especially damaging.
“Every organization throughout professional sports, all the way down to youth rec leagues, have to deal with occasional bad behavior from spectators,” Cox said. “But here’s the fact: We did not have one fan pointed out by a player who violated the WNBA code of conduct this season. Not one fan was removed from a game.”
Multiple Indiana supporters were thrown out of games during the 2025 season. Furthermore, numerous players around the league have criticized elements of the Fever’s support. On Aug. 6, two fans were escorted from their courtside seats at Gainbridge Fieldhouse after Aces guard Jackie Young complained that they had been “chirping” at her during the game, according to ESPN’s Kareem Copeland. They were not ejected, with officials determining that they had not violated the fan code of conduct.
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What did Fever players say bout attacks against fanbase?
Indiana players were slightly more coy than Cox during their exit interviews. Star guard Kelsey Mitchell explained that life with the Fever isn’t always the easiest, citing occasional interactions with some fans as evidence.
yea she gone 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/otq9ZSYZG2
— E.A.🤴🏾 (@crashoutking1) October 3, 2026
“I don’t think people really understand how much we endure, man,” Mitchell said. “Like, if I showed y’all my DMs about the hate and all of the stuff that comes with being a professional athlete, but specifically being an Indiana Fever basketball player, it’s a lot that goes into that. And those days are hard as hell, man.”
“Playing with [Caitlin Clark] and having the eyes that she’s got [on her], we get a lot of flak just from being on her team. I think that that comes with a lot too. And I just think that people [have] got to give us grace. I think this organization is unbelievable, man. But I think that when it comes to, like, really trying to be yourself, it hasn’t always been easy.”
Mitchell isn’t the first player to echo those sentiments. Aliyah Boston offered a similar viewpoint at the end of the 2024 season. With Mitchell set to hit free agency, Indiana’s front office has a lot to do to convince her to stay in Fever colors for the foreseeable future.
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Why is the Fever fanbase controversial?
Indiana’s fanbase has drawn the ire of a fair few players in recent years. Fever headliners like Clark and Sophie Cunningham appear to have become avatar’s for right-wingers since they landed on Indiana; the former was the subject of a GOP-backed letter sent to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert calling for “greater accountability” to punish “repeated acts of physical violence” directed at her during games, wrote House Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger. Cunningham, meanwhile, has co-signed transphobic messaging, claiming to want to “protect young girls” in sport by denying access to gender-affirming sports to trans girls and women.
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Cunningham’s comments, published in an ESPN profile that came out in July, set the stage for a farcical summer that saw two former NBA players announce their intention to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft under the guise of “inclusivity.” They also came amid increasing violence towards trans women — for example, last December, the Department of Justice made a revision on the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) denying federal recognition of gender-affirming care, per Lookout.
The capture of Clark and Cunningham by right-wing mouthpiece stands in sharp contrast to the league’s demographics. The WNBA is largely Black, largely LGBTQ+ and largely Black and LGBTQ+.
All that amounts to confusion over the state of support for the Fever and Cunningham and Clark. While the league is undoubtedly more popular than it was prior to Clark’s arrival, there is a belief that this growth has come at a cost. Opposition players have claimed that they have received death threats for offenses that took place when facing off against Indiana.
All that amounts to a polarizing fanbase, even if it isn’t reflective of the masses of Fever supporters. Only time will tell if things will get better for the fanbase’s reputation in the years to come.
MORE: Becky Hammon turns heads with blunt response about Caitlin Clark’s Fever
