Indiana Fever’s Stephanie White to take leave as Mike Kelly to serve as coach
Indiana coach Stephanie White will miss her second game this season for personal reasons when the Fever visit the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday night in San Francisco.
The Fever (6-5) said White is tending to a personal matter, with assistant coach Austin Kelly serving as acting head coach for Indiana’s first game against the expansion Golden State franchise (5-6).
Kelly also served as head coach on 7 June, when the Fever beat the host Chicago Sky 79-52. White, 47, was attending to a family matter.
“It’s going to be the same,” Kelly said after Thursday’s shootaround, according to an ESPN report. “I think we are an extension of each other.
“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.“
It is the first season of White’s second stint as Indiana’s head coach. She led the Fever from 2015-16 and returned after spending the past two seasons coaching the Connecticut Sun.
Stephanie White Breaks Silence on DeWanna Bonner’s Absence From Indiana Fever
As the Indiana Fever continue to navigate a roller-coaster of injuries and personal absences, the veteran presence of DeWanna Bonner has notably been missing from the lineup.
After seeing star Caitlin Clark return to the lineup on June 14 in a 102-88 victory over the previously undefeated New York Liberty, the team proceeded to win its next contest over the Connecticut Sun before falling to the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday.
Each of those past three games has been without Bonner, leaving fans concerned about the future of the two-time WNBA champion.
Coach Stephanie White confirmed on Saturday that Bonner is “doing well” but remains without a definitive return date.
“Again, no timeline,” White told reporters. “I think it’s day to day for us to just make sure that we’re continuing to be supportive of DB.”
Since entering the league as the No. 5 overall pick in 2009, Bonner has established herself as one of the WNBA’s premier two-way forwards.
A six-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion (2009 and 2014 with the Phoenix Mercury), Bonner also earned three Sixth Woman of the Year awards, two All-WNBA team honors and an All-Defensive team selection in 2015.
In her debut for the Fever on May 17, Bonner immediately stamped her legacy, moving past Tina Thompson to become the third all-time leading scorer in WNBA history.
She was averaging 7.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 21.3 minutes per game before her recent absence.
Indiana Fever forward DeWanna Bonner (25).© Grace Smith-Imagn Images
While it’s unlikely that Bonner plays in the Fever’s road game against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, White’s comments indicate that she should return to action in the coming days.
