For this entry of WNBA Tuesday fun, we’re breaking down the 2025 regular season for the Indiana Fever, which resulted in a 24-20 record and the No. 6 seed in the postseason. However, everyone knows that media darling Caitlin Clark only played in 13 games this season due to injury. Yet somehow, the team still thrived amid many injuries to multiple role players, thanks to the outstanding play of three stars on the team. Fact.

That’s right: three players on the 2025 team surpassed—by far—the 2024 season of Clark, which was heralded as an MVP-type season for unfathomable reasons, even though Clark only finished third on her own team last year in overall sabermetric value (3.0 Win Shares in 40 games). This year? Aliyah Boston (7.2 WS), Kelsey Mitchell (5.6), and Natasha Howard (4.2) all played vastly better than Clark did last year.

So where is their MVP hype?!

Each of these legitimate stars in the trio played in all 44 games, carrying the diminished Fever to the playoffs, spectacularly. Remember, sabermetric analysis is the “Moneyball” concept which is now applied to all sports, not just baseball: Clark was the fifth-worst Rookie of the Year winner in league history last year when it comes to sabermetric value. And again, all three of these Fever stars had better seasons this summer.

Where is adoration and love for them, from the league, the media, and the Indiana fans?!

No idea, really. One of the better sabermetric measurements is Win Shares per Minutes Played, too, and that bears some scrutiny here as well, comparing the Fever roster last year to this year. It’s easy to see just how valuable Boston and Mitchell were last year, too, in truth, while Clark is the one who garnered all the attention and hype from the media, relatively undeservedly—and the fans just ate it up, as well:

  • Boston (2024): .147 WS/40 in 40 games
  • Mitchell (2024): .101 WS/40 in 40 games
  • Clark (2024): .086 WS/40 in 40 games
  • Boston (2025): .215 WS/40 in 44 games
  • Mitchell (2025): .161 WS/40 in 44 games
  • Howard (2025): .157 WS/40 in 44 games
  • Clark (2025): .045 WS/40 in 13 games

We understand Clark was playing hurt for some of this year’s games, but the reality is she was worse this year than she was last year on a per-minute basis—while her two teammates from last season improved drastically without her on the court. That is to be expected, a little bit, since their respective usage rates went up without Clark playing. But still … Howard filled that “third banana” role aptly, in comparison.

So, keep this in mind when analyzing the commentary from sports mediots about Clark: she really was overrated last year, and the team probably played better without her this year, as three different Fever stars were significantly better in 2025 than Clark’s level of performance and play in 2024. It’s just data-driven, factual reality here. This is the modern-day, advanced way to analyze value in sport, and … well, yeah.