Following Tuesday’s win over the Sun, which became a physical matchup with multiple ejections, the Fever are over .500 in the early WNBA season.
Indiana recently got Caitlin Clark back from injury, re-grouping for two consecutive wins to improve to 6-5. However, for Thursday night’s matchup against the Valkyries, the Fever will be without a key member of their sideline: head coach Stephanie White.
White will reportedly miss the game against Golden State for personal reasons.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Here’s more on why White will be absent from Indiana’s sideline on Thursday, with Austin Kelly stepping in as head coach.
SN’s WNBA HQ: Live WNBA scores | Updated WNBA standings | Full WNBA schedule
Where is Stephanie White vs. Valkyries?
ESPN’s Kendra Andrews reported Thursday that White would miss the matchup against Golden State for personal reasons, with Kelly stepping in as acting head coach.
Both White and her partner, ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters, have been absent from their respective roles in basketball at a few points lately. Salters missed multiple broadcasts for the NBA Finals series between Indiana and Oklahoma City on ESPN, with Jorge Sedano filling in her reporting role.
While Salters was away from the broadcast, ESPN play-by-play broadcaster Mike Breen said that Salters’ mother has been dealing with serious health issues. While both Salters and White have stepped away from their respective positions for brief periods lately, there is no confirmation that the health of Salters’ mother is the reason for their personal absences.
White also missed the Fever’s June 7 matchup against the Sky due to personal reasons, and upon her return, she said, “our family is working through a hard time right now,” per the Indianapolis Star.
It was not specified by the Fever how long White would be away from the team.
Who is Austin Kelly?
Kelly will be filling in as the Fever’s head coach for the second time this season on Thursday. He is a 2011 Duke graduate who previously spent time as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Texas Arlington, and he was also a member of White’s staff at Vanderbilt from 2019-21.
Kelly joined the Sun as an assistant coach in 2023, where White was the head coach at the time, and he followed her to Indiana when she became head coach of the Fever.
“It’s going to be the same. I think we are an extension of each other,” Kelly said about taking over Thursday’s game for White, per ESPN. “The message is still the same that we talk about in the locker room: playing for each other, getting it done on the defensive end, and then having that help fuel us on the offensive end. But the vibes are good.”
