Sophie Cunningham Reveals Caitlin Clark's Fever Had Team Meeting, 'Too Soft' Right Now

The Indiana Fever held a team meeting Monday to sort out some issues contributing to their 4-4 start.

Veteran guard Sophie Cunningham told reporters the team has been "too soft" so far. She said Monday's gathering, which was prompted by the coaching staff, lasted upwards of two hours and "peeled back all of the layers."

Cunningham added that clearing the air was "much needed" following Saturday's 16-point loss to the Portland Fire.

Indiana isn't where it was hoping to be right now, but some of the reactions to their position have gone over the top.

The Fever are 2.5 games out of first place and they're seventh in net rating (plus-3.7), per WNBA.com. They're only 0.2 points per 100 possessions behind the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces.

There are worse places to be than in the middle of the back without a quarter of the season gone.

The attention paid to a tense sideline exchange between star Caitlin Clark and coach Stephanie White illustrates the amount of pressure everyone in Indy is under. The massive spotlight on Clark brings equally large expectations.

To Cunningham's point, the Fever do need to iron out some flaws, namely on defense, as well. Against the Fire, they never recovered from allowing 29 points in the first quarter. They were equally flat coming out of halftime as the Fire scored 37 in the third.

Maybe something got lost in translation, but Cunningham's remark about defensive coverages is concerning. The coaching staff is the same and the roster has a lot of holdovers from last year. The players should have a strong understanding of their roles on defense, yet that may not be the case.

Indiana is back in action Thursday against the Atlanta Dream. A strong performance will ease some of the fan angst that's building.