By Madie Chandler | FeverBasketball.com

“Every time I go to Costco someone recognizes me,” Brianna Turner said at Fever media day on Wednesday. “Costco shoppers love Indiana Fever players.”

Turner isn’t the only Fever player to be recognized out and about in Indianapolis – DeWanna Bonner told media that she’s been recognized in her grocery store, too. Indianapolis brought the “Midwest nice” mantra to life as it welcomed its newest Fever players, even welcoming some back home.

Sophie Cunningham beamed about eating meatloaf and scalloped potatoes after practice, stating that she was back in the Midwest and loved it.

The season marks a homecoming for more than a few members of Indiana’s organization, and the expectations for the upcoming WNBA season have the streets of Indianapolis buzzing.

“The aura is just different,” Kelsey Mitchell said. “We sit and watch games like we’ve been family for years. I sat [at the Pacers game] with Caitlin [Clark] and we just talked about basketball, and then I sit with Stephanie [White] and we talk about basketball. …The love language that we all have for basketball just kind of made the culture easy to be around.”

The Indiana Fever are playing a part in unifying a city known for its deep-rooted affection for hoops. Fever players are attending Indiana Pacers games. Pacers fans are wearing Fever jerseys to NBA games. Pacers players are openly supporting their WNBA counterparts, and the state of Indiana is rallying behind both.

“Everybody’s very genuine here, and it’s just real and authentic,” Jaelyn Brown said of the organization. “Like I love everybody’s demeanor. People want the best out of everybody and that’s just what I live for and that’s what I want to continue to project to as well.”

You don’t win WNBA championships in May, but Indiana is already adopting a championship demeanor as the Fever strive for greatness in preseason training camp. If the end goal is a WNBA title, the Fever are laser-focused on the commitment it takes to hang championship banners.

And that commitment isn’t just a dedication to the level of basketball played on court.

The Fever are committed to each other, taking the support from the city and recycling it among themselves so they can return it to Indianapolis in the form of basketball success.

“It’s such a family feel with this organization, with basketball in the state of Indiana,” coach Stephanie White said. “It’s coming home, and there’s a certain peace that comes with that. There’s a certain comfort level that comes with that.

“But at the end of the day, we also know that we have a job to do. And so it’s great to be back, and to be familiar, and to be a part of this franchise that’s such a fabric of my DNA. …[But] we’ve started, and now it’s time to play basketball.”

White returns to Indiana to lead the Fever through the franchise’s 26th season. White, a Purdue graduate and member of the original Indiana Fever team, knows her team needs to cling together as they enter a season of elevated expectations.

“We have the deepest team, probably, that I’ve ever been a part of,” White said. “It takes everybody, and it takes sacrifice. …Everybody’s going to have to sacrifice at some point for us to be as good as we can be. …That’s what it’s going to take. So we have to be unified, we have to be together in everything that we do. We have to sacrifice for the Indiana Fever.”

Indiana added several veterans of the league in the offseason as it injected its youthful locker room with highly talented, experienced, players. The veteran leadership presence balances the young core from a season ago, unifying the Fever in their pursuit of the WNBA’s pinnacle achievement.

“I want to win for them,” Caitlin Clark said of her veterans on Wednesday. “Like, seeing how selfless they are and, you know, them choosing to come here and choosing to be a part of the Fever, they didn’t have to do that. So I certainly want to win for them, and they deserve it.”

Indiana’s roster, stacked with championship pedigree and diverse basketball excellence, is prepared to embark on its quest for the franchise’s second WNBA title. That doesn’t come easy, doesn’t happen overnight, and certainly won’t come without challenges. But the Fever are aligned in their focus, unified in their approach, and determined to leave a mark on the league.

“This organization is going to be big time – it’s already big time – and it’s on the rise,” Jillian Alleyne said. “And I’m always wanting to be a part of something special, something that’s groundbreaking, and I believe that’s what’s happening here.”

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