Takeaways from the Fever's 2026 Schedule
WNBA Indiana Fever

Takeaways from the Fever's 2026 Schedule

Published on January 21, 2026 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release


We have a schedule for the 2026 Fever season! The WNBA officially unveiled the schedule for the upcoming season on Wednesday and we now know when and where the Fever will tip off their 2026 campaign.

A lot still has to happen between now and when the season tips off. That includes an expansion draft for two new franchises, free agency, and the WNBA Draft, all of which will provide a much clearer picture of each team's roster for the upcoming season.

View the Complete 2026 Indiana Fever Schedule >>

But the schedule release allows us the opportunity to identify some early storylines as we prepare for the next exciting chapter of Fever basketball. Here are some initial takeaways from Indiana's 2026 schedule.

1. Four Most Recent No. 1 Picks to Meet in Season Opener

The Fever will tip off the 2026 season at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, May 9 with a marquee matchup against the Dallas Wings. This will be the second straight season and the third time in the last four years that the Fever open the season at home.

With almost all the league's veterans set to enter free agency, there is a lot of uncertainty as to who will be on what roster when the 2026 season tips off. But Indiana and Dallas both have star players still under rookie contracts, making this a fun matchup regardless of how each team fills out its roster.

In fact, this game projects to feature the WNBA's four most recent no. 1 draft picks. The Fever selected Aliyah Boston first overall in 2023 and Caitlin Clark in 2024, while the Wings drafted Paige Bueckers with the first pick in 2025 and won the lottery to again pick first in the 2026 draft.

All three of Boston, Clark, and Bueckers have lived up to the hype. They each were named Rookie of the Year and have made the All-Star team in all of their WNBA seasons to date. Clark was a first team All-WNBA selection as a rookie, while Boston and Bueckers both were named to the All-WNBA second team in 2025.

This game will hopefully mark Clark's return to the court after injuries limited her to just 13 games last season. Clark's last regular season game was on July 15 in Connecticut and her last game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was against Dallas on July 13.

2. Home Heavy Schedule to Open Season

Fans will have plenty of chances to watch the Fever play at Gainbridge Fieldhouse early in the 2026 season. The Fever will play five of their first six games and 12 of their first 19 contests at home.

Indiana makes a quick trip to Los Angeles after the season opener, but then returns for a four-game homestand from May 15-22. The Fever will host Washington and Seattle to open that homestand before playing their first game against the expansion Portland Fire on May 20. The homestand wraps up against the Golden State Valkyries, a 2025 expansion team that reached the playoffs in its first WNBA season.

The Fever will again play five of six games at home from June 16-27. Their first game against the other 2026 expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, is on June 16, followed by a home-and-home set with Atlanta. The Fever then return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for a three-game homestand that features a pair of games against Phoenix and one versus Los Angeles.

Indiana's final major homestand is a four-game stretch from July 15-22 where the Fever will host Golden State, Seattle, New York, and Connecticut.

3. Fever Hit the Road Often in Second Half

Lots of home games early in the season naturally also means most of Indiana's longer road trips are slotted for the second half of the season. The Fever don't have a road trip longer than two games over the season's first two months, but have three longer road trips after the 4th of July.

The first of those is a unique four-game trip that both starts and ends in Las Vegas, with games against the Aces on July 5 and 12. In between, the Fever will travel to Los Angeles and Phoenix for back-to-back games on July 8 and 9.

The Fever then have a three-game road trip from July 28 - Aug. 2 that includes visits to Seattle, Portland, and Minnesota. Indiana's longest road trip of the season is a five-game trip from Aug. 16-23, when the Fever will travel to Atlanta, Toronto and Dallas before wrapping up the trip with another back-to-back against New York and Chicago. Those two trips bookend a stretch where the Fever will play nine of 12 games on the road.

Overall, Indiana will play 11 of its final 17 games away from Gainbridge Fieldhouse, including the regular season finale on Sept. 24 in Minnesota. This is the second straight season the Fever will play the Lynx in their final regular season game.

4. Commissioner's Cup Title Defense in June

The Fever made history in 2025, winning the Commissioner's Cup for the first time in franchise history. The annual in-season competition was instituted in 2021 and pits each team against all of its conference foes. The top team in each conference then advances to the Commissioner's Cup championship game, a midseason showcase where two teams compete for the title and a special prize pool.

The Fever went 4-1 against Eastern Conference opponents in Commissioner's Cup play last season, then went on the road weeks later and won 74-59 at Minnesota to capture the title. The Commissioner's Cup run was an early season statement by the Fever and helped lay the foundation for their success later in the year in the playoffs, advancing to Game 5 of the WNBA Semifinals.

Commissioner's Cup group play is scheduled for the first half of June in 2026, with the Fever beginning their title defense on June 4 against Atlanta. The Fever will also host Chicago on June 11 and Toronto on June 16, with road games scheduled for New York (June 6), Washington (June 8), and Connecticut (June 13). All of those games will count toward both the regular season and Commissioner's Cup standings.

Five different teams have won the Commissioner's Cup over its first five years of existence, so the Fever have a chance to become the only multi-time winner in 2026.

5. Expansion Continues with New Teams in Portland, Toronto

The WNBA expanded for the first time in 17 years last season, adding a 13th team in Golden State. Two more teams are set to join the league in 2026, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.

Portland previously had a WNBA franchise (also called the Fire) from 2000-02. This is Toronto's first WNBA franchise and the first WNBA team outside of the United States.

The Fever will play each of the new expansion teams three times in the regular season, but will only have one home game against each team. The Fire make their lone visit to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 20, with the Fever heading to Portland on May 30 and July 31. The Tempo will play in Indianapolis on June 16, with the Fever traveling to Toronto on Aug. 18 and Sept. 18.

The WNBA has not announced details for the forthcoming expansion draft yet, but there is a strong possibility that at least one of the Fire or Tempo's rosters features a player who played for the Fever in 2025. Teams are only allowed to protect a certain number of players from the expansion draft. Golden State selected Temi Fagbenle from Indiana's roster in last year's exapansion draft.

6. Playoff Rematches

The Fever made their deepest playoff run in a decade last postseason, knocking off the third-seeded Atlanta Dream in the first round and then pushing the eventual WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces to the brink of elimination in the 2025 WNBA Finals.

The Fever and Dream will meet four times in the 2026 season. Indiana will host the first two games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 4 and 18. They will travel to Atlanta for the second half of a home-and-home set with the Dream on June 20, then make another visit to Atlanta on Aug. 16.

The Fever and Aces will square off three times, with a pair of games in Las Vegas on July 5 and 12 bookending the aforementioned four-game road trip. The Aces will make their lone regular season visit to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Aug. 6.

7. Odds and Ends

Below are a few other stray thoughts from the Fever's 2026 schedule.

The WNBA schedule will remain at 44 games for the second straight season. To make that work with 15 teams, the Fever will play 12 opponents three times and two teams (Atlanta and New York) twice. The Fever will have two home games against Connecticut, Dallas, Golden State, Phoenix, Seattle and Washington. They will host Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Portland, and Toronto once.

The Fever are scheduled to play three back-to-backs in 2026, two on the road and one at home. They play at Los Angeles and Phoenix on July 8 and 9, host Seattle and New York on July 17 and 18, and visit New York and Chicago on Aug. 22 and 23.

Indiana plays the same opponent in consecutive games four times this season. The Fever will host Golden State on May 22 and then visit the Valkyries six days later. They have another home-and-home with Atlanta on June 18 and 20. The Fever will host Phoenix for two straight games on June 22 and 24. And the regular season wraps up with a home-and-home set with Minnesota on Sept. 22 and 24.

There is an in-season break from Aug. 31 to Sept. 16 this season for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026. This year's World Cup will be held in Germany. The Fever will play 40 games before the hiatus, then return to action on Sept. 18 for their final four regular season games.

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from January 21, 2026


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