Remember when the Indiana Fever was the worst team in the league and it looked like Caitlin Clark was going to have a really tough debut season?

Me neither.

The Fever started their season 1-8 and seemed destined for another year in the lottery. Early on, it felt like Indiana was getting blown out every night. There were two Losing by 36 points to Liberty, a defense that was historically bad and a rotation that didn’t quite make sense.

But all great things take time to come together, and this version of the Indiana Fever was worth the wait. The Fever have won three straight and are 13-6 in their last 19 games. They are currently in 6th place — and are a .500 team for the first time since 2016.

“It feels good to be at .500 right now,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said after the team blew away the Chicago Sky on Friday. “It’s been a really long time since the Fever has been at .500. I’m just really proud of that and where we’ve been since we started.”

Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 31 points in that game, and Kelsey Mitchell continued her stellar play. The away win in Chicago came just two days after a clutch-time victory over the veteran Connecticut Sun in which Mitchell led the way with 23.

“For me, the maturity and the toughness that my players showed tonight was just unbelievable,” Sides told the Sun after Wednesday’s win. “We’re just watching them grow up — from where we started to where they are now.”

Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell have become the best backcourt in the WNBA

There’s no other way to say it — Caitlin Clark has been spectacular of late. Over the last 10 games, she’s the WNBA’s third-leading scorer, averaging 23.4 points on 46.3 percent shooting. She’s also averaging a league-best 10.2 assists per game over that span.

Meanwhile, Kelsey Mitchell, Clark’s backcourt buddy, is even more on fire — she’s the league’s fourth-leading scorer over the last 10 games, averaging 22.8 points on a scorching 51.5% shooting percentage. She’s scored at least 20 points in six straight games, setting a new franchise record.

The only two players to surpass Clark and Mitchell in that span are A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, two absolute top prospects who both have two MVP trophies to their name.

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Kelsey Mitchell, but Christie Sides praised her leadership and locker room presence. It’s Mitchell’s seventh year at Indiana, but she’s never made the playoffs — or come close.

“Kelsey Mitchell is just the most incredible professional athlete I’ve ever been around,” Sides said. “She may not always be happy with certain things, but she’s going to show up every day.”

This year, her experienced presence and consistent scoring have had a monumental impact on a young squad.

“She was someone who was on the sidelines, coaching us, talking to us, especially for me as a rookie coming in, she was always a very positive voice out there and very supportive,” Clark said. “And to me, that makes you feel very welcome as a rookie and playing with someone who’s been really, really good to this organization. So I just feel very lucky and fortunate, because I know that’s not every situation for a rookie. I’m just very thankful.”

Lexie Hull and Aliyah Boston also starred in their roles

When a team turns the tide like the Fever has, it’s usually the result of more than just the strong play of two players. Lexie Hull, barely in the rotation to begin with, has been a revelation by the midseason, making 17 of her last 24 3-pointers and always able to be counted on to dive for a loose ball or help secure a crucial defensive stop.

“Lexie stayed determined and ready to go when her number was called,” Sides said after the Sun win. “She just did everything we needed to do to get these wins and be successful.”

Then there’s Aliyah Boston, last year’s unanimous Rookie of the Year. Boston is averaging 13.6 points on 54.1 percent shooting over the last 10 games of the season and has brought in defensemen to open things up for her star teammates. She held Sun All-Star center Brionna Jones to just two points on Wednesday and similarly helped limit the Sky’s frontcourt of Kamilla Cardoso (6 pts on 1-4 FG) and Angel Reese (10 pts, 4-9 FG).

“AB is that dominant post player that opens everything up on the outside because when we get her touches, they’re going to fall on her,” Sides said. “And when they don’t, great — that’s great for her, that’s great for us.”

Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Could the Fever challenge for the championship?

The Fever went from hoping to not be the worst team in the league to sixth in a matter of months. Over the last 10 games, they are tied for the second-best record in the league with the Minnesota Lynx at 7-3. Over the last 5 games, they have the highest point differential.

A championship is likely still a matter of time, but the Fever have had some key wins in that span and have shown that different players can step up for Indiana at different times.

After the win over the Sun, who entered the field as the second-best team in the competition, Lexie Hull made it clear that the group’s confidence knows no bounds.

“We’re taking each game as it comes, one game at a time, and to win tonight, some people might write this game off, but I know we were really motivated and excited and believed we could get the win,” Hull said. “I’m just really proud of how our group stuck together through all four quarters.”

Even their biggest opponents could not deny the improvement.

“They have a lot more experience now — they play a lot harder and they feel more comfortable,” Alyssa Thomas said after the Sun fell to the Fever for the first time this season.

The offensive connectivity has come, the defense has improved, and Mitchell and Clark have learned to play together quickly. But perhaps more important to the Fever’s long-term success, they’re playing with a completely different emotion: joy.

“Joy is something that we didn’t find a lot of in the beginning,” Sides said. “And I’ve preached that from the beginning, that you have to have fun playing this game, and having that joy is so important. When we came out of the Olympic break and won those two games, it was a different feeling out there. And that’s what we talked about — there’s this joy, there’s this excitement, and it’s created this new, different feeling around our team.”

Anyone who watches a Fever basketball game can see it. The only question left is how far that joy will take them.