How Caitlin Clark has been guided by Erica Wheeler through her rookie season

Indianapolis — Caitlin Clark was walking a tightrope.

The same passion that helped reshape the Fever franchise into a championship contender also put her on the brink of punishment. Indiana was playing its penultimate game of the regular season, and Clark was on the verge of receiving an automatic suspension for picking up one technical foul.

Because technical foul totals are reset before the playoffs, Clarke would have been safe by simply finishing the game without a technical foul, but he was unafraid to voice his opinion to the officials, forcing him to walk a tightrope for 40 minutes where one wrong step could be costly.

The de-escalation crew is here.

Clark's teammates were fully aware of the situation and spent the entire game against the Wings making sure Clark didn't get a seventh technical foul. Aaliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell steered Clark away from the officials and back onto the court, but Katie Lou Samuelson came off the bench after a timeout to stop Clark from making excuses.

But as has been the case all season, veteran guard Erica Wheeler was at the center of it all time, including in one first-half moment shown above, when Wheeler stepped in to replace Clark, who was particularly upset about a foul call, and led Clark down the sideline in the process.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Fever increased their lead. Wheeler hugged Clark. It was to remind her how close the final buzzer was and how much she needed to get there.

The Dallas game may have been the most notable example of the Fever's running interference against Clark and the game that garnered the most attention on social media, but this isn't a new role for Wheeler. All season long, she's been Clark's lifeline from technical fouls, and she's done it all with a smile.

“Honestly, she's passionate about the game,” Wheeler said. “I know her character and I can see when she's taking it a little bit too far and I'm ready to step up and ease the tension and she lets it happen. I think that's the most important part that people don't realize. Just imagine how upset she would have been if she didn't let it happen.”

“The fact that she listens to me shows how much respect she has for me. When I say 'C! C! C!' she looks at me and wants to say something else, but she doesn't. It shows how much she respects me as a veterinarian.”

From the start of training camp, Wheeler kept Clark under his wing, even though he was well aware that her arrival would most directly affect her position in the rotation — coming off the bench, a role she had never played before in her nine-year career.

Prior to this season, Wheeler had started 209 of his 238 games. 2019 WNBA All-Star Game MVP Award.

Wheeler started all 40 games for the Fever last season, averaging just under 10 points per game and leading the team in assists. When he signed a two-year contract to return to Indiana in 2023, it probably wasn't with any thought that his role off the court would be more important than his role on it.

But Wheeler was clearly at a disadvantage from the moment Clark announced he was entering the draft in February. Clark was expected to start from Day One and play significant minutes, which meant the incumbent starting point guard was not.

Many players would have rebelled against having their minutes cut in half because of a rookie, some would have demanded a trade, and they would have been right, but very few would have reacted the way Wheeler did.

On the night of 2024 WNBA Wheeler was among thousands of people who attended a viewing party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during the draft, and when the Fever officially announced Clark as their No. 1 pick, Wheeler had the same reaction as any fan.

Wheeler, who sat courtside with teammates Maya Caldwell and Lexi Hull, jumped up and down in excitement with the fans before quickly running to center court in her Indiana Fever Clark jersey to celebrate the win.

“Erika knew from the beginning what to expect when Kaitlyn came in,” head coach Christy Sides said, “She's someone who really helps not only Kaitlyn but the rest of the team. She gives the players really good input during the game.”

“It's a completely different role for her than it was last year, so I'm just grateful for her and what she does for the team.”

Statistically, Wheeler's production has dropped off dramatically this season. He started the first two games of the year as Mitchell returned from injury, but has since been relegated to the reserves.

Her playing time has been cut in half from 26.8 minutes per game last season to just 13.7 this year, and she is averaging less than 10 minutes per game since July. Her scoring averages are the lowest of her career, and her assist and rebound averages are also her lowest since her rookie season.

But when it comes to Clarke in particular, it's hard to argue with her impact on the Fever this season.

Wheeler was publicly welcoming of Clark's arrival, but also reacted similarly behind the scenes: With only three players over the age of 26, the Fever squad didn't have many veteran coaching options, but Clark couldn't have asked for a better mentor than Wheeler.

“I think she's someone who really understands me,” Clark said. “Through the really good times and the bad times, she's always there for me. She's always there to help me and bless me through the good times and the bad times.”

“she [the league] Go [she’s] Just helping me get through my rookie season and understanding how the league works, what to expect, what teams do. I think it's been a fun journey for us, and honestly, it feels like it was yesterday when we met for the first time and went to training camp together. It's been really fun.”

Wheeler is often visible, but not always recognized: When the camera cuts to the bench celebrating after Clark's 3-pointer, he's the one dancing up and down the sideline; when the players are gathered on the sideline during a timeout, he's the one in the middle, talking.

And as Clark was arguing at length with the umpire about a call, Wheeler grabbed her teammate's arm and led her back to the bench to keep her out of trouble.

For Wheeler, the banter and light-hearted moments with Clark are essential to making the serious moments resonate.

“I think people just misunderstand her,” Wheeler says. “She's the type of person that sometimes you just have to say what you want to say. You have to say what you want to say, whether she responds or not. I'm a veteran and she's a rookie, so there are certain things that I'm not going to let her do, whether she likes it or not, and I think she appreciates that from me.”

“Then, while she's on the court, I try to keep her in a way that I know she'll take it. I never try to take myself too seriously. I try to joke around so that she can take it and understand me and know that it's coming from a good place. That's how our relationship grows. We laugh and we joke and it's kind of… [the moments] When I have to tell her something, we laugh and joke a lot, so it's much easier to tell her what to do.”

Clark's Fever are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and it's not just because they valiantly slipped in as the No. 8 seed. Indiana enters as an underdog against the Connecticut Sun as the No. 6 seed, but they have at least one win against every team in the league except the A's this season.

And it's impossible to argue that Wheeler didn't help get Indiana back to the postseason.

But this time, it's not so much her scoring or playmaking that's been attributed to her leadership and willingness to mentor the Fever's rookie stars. Her work as the team's unofficial chief, Caitlin Kalmar, has been just as important this season, if not more so, than her playing time as the team's backup guard.

But make no mistake: Wheeler has been everything the Fever and Caitlin Clark asked her to be this season, whether it be as a leader on the practice court or in the locker room, or as a teammate who steps in at just the right time to save the day.