The Indiana Fever are back at .500—again.

In what has been a recurring theme for the Fever in 2025, Indiana followed up an impressive (and in some ways improbable) win with a disappointing loss. Two days after holding the Las Vegas Aces to their lowest point total since they moved to Vegas, the Fever suffered a setback against the Los Angeles Sparks, squandering a late lead and failing to execute on several key possessions in a narrow loss.

The loss dropped the Fever to 9-9, the seventh time this season they’ve had a .500 record. And while head coach Stephanie White is sympathetic to the rigor of a 44-game regular-season schedule—the Fever have now played nine games in 18 days—she’s imploring her team to find a second wind.

“This is a group that’s pretty locked in in terms of their energy, their effort and understanding what we’re trying to do, but it takes another gear sometimes,” White said after the Fever’s loss to the Sparks. “If there’s physical tiredness, we have to combat that with mental sharpness.”

This lack of consistency is undoubtedly frustrating, especially considering the amount of star power on the Fever’s roster. For the second consecutive season, Indiana will send three players to the WNBA All-Star Game: Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. Clark and Boston were voted by fans as All-Star starters, while Mitchell was selected by the league’s coaches as a reserve.

In fairness to those players, each of them had a strong statistical case to be named an All-Star. Clark has shot the ball poorly by her standards and has only played in nine games due to nagging injuries, but she’s still averaging 18.2 points and 8.9 assists per game (No. 2 in the WNBA). Boston, meanwhile, is averaging 16.6 points per game on a league-leading 59.7 percent shooting from the field. Mitchell ranks fifth in the WNBA in scoring at 19.3 points per game, which is a career-high.

Perhaps this is what has made the Fever’s mediocrity so disappointing. Even with Clark missing half of the team’s games, Indiana has the talent to be better than it has been—on paper. This was supposed to be a season of growth for the Fever, with a cast of championship-caliber veterans joining a group of rising stars to help them become contenders, rather than just hopefuls.

Aliyah Boston (left) and Caitlin Clark at the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. Photo by Dylan Goodman/NBAE via Getty Images

But whereas the Fever’s trio of All-Star selections in 2024 seemed like a exciting glimpse into a bright future, the very same selections one year later were more or less expected. It was given that players like Clark and Boston would make the All-Star game again, especially with it being held in Indianapolis; they’re among the best (and most popular) players at their position, and they deserve to be honored as such.

Until the Fever start winning, though, the honor is just that—an honor. Their star players, no longer theoretical, are doing what they’re supposed to, but it hasn’t yet translated into the success expected of them. Clark, Boston and Mitchell will surely continue producing at an All-Star level; can the Fever take those strong individual performances and start turning them into wins?