Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark clinch playoff spot, snap longest active postseason drought in WNBA history

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever have officially clinched a playoff berth.

The Fever backed into a playoff spot on Tuesday night thanks to a pair of losses elsewhere in the league. That officially has the franchise into the postseason for the first time since 2016, which was the longest active playoff drought in WNBA history.

The Fever did not play on Tuesday, but still made it in thanks to a loss by both the Chicago Sky and the Atlanta Dream. The Las Vegas Aces rolled over the Sky in Nevada 90-71 behind a 30-point night from A’ja Wilson. The Dream fell to the Phoenix Mercury 74-66 in Arizona, too. Both the Dream and the Sky dropped to an 11-22 record on the season, and the Fever hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over both of them.

The Fever are the sixth team to clinch a playoff spot so far this season, joining the New York Liberty, Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces. The Mercury also clinched a playoff spot with their win and Chicago’s loss in Las Vegas. There is now just one playoff spot left.

The Fever have won four straight after their 100-93 win over the Dallas Wings on Sunday — which marked their sixth win in the seven games after the Olympics break. That win pushed them to 17-16 on the season, which brought them to above .500 for the first time since 2019.

The Fever last made the playoffs in 2016, when they finished 17-17 on the season and were knocked out in the first round. That postseason appearance was the franchise’s 12th in a row, and came four years after they won their first and only championship.

Clark has averaged 18.7 points, a league-high 8.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game this season. The former Iowa Hawkeyes star and added 12 assists in a win over the Chicago Sky on Friday, which made her the first player in league history with a 30-point, 12-assist game. She also broke the WNBA rookie 3-point record last week. She’s averaging three made 3-pointers per game, too, which is behind only Dallas star Arike Ogunbowale’s 3.1 per game.

The Fever have seven games left in the regular season, starting on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Sparks.