The teammate of Caitlin Clark is frustrated with her lack of involvement in Christie Sides’ plan for Indiana Fever.
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GRAYSON WEIR
LAST UPDATED 5:52 PM MAY 29, 2024
Smith NaLyssa
GETTY PHOTO
Now that Caitlin Clark has joined the Indiana Fever, NaLyssa Smith is not content with her position there. She recently expressed her disapproval of head coach Christie Sides on social media with a “like” that made it apparent.
The third-year forward is eager to play more and contribute more to the game.
Smith was selected as a First-Team All-American at Baylor and was selected with the second overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft. Throughout 32 games as a rookie, she averaged 13.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 30.7 minutes. Over the course of 31 games last year, she averaged 15.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 28.5 minutes.
Despite having some impressive stats, Smith was on a mediocre enough team to be selected first overall in consecutive years after being selected second the year before. To say that she was one of the few bright spots on a lackluster team would not be out of place.
It’s been a strange season. This is Aliyah Boston’s second year. Clark has shown up.
Over the first eight games, Smith has averaged 9.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in just 22 minutes of play. While not bad, that line doesn’t accurately represent the events of the previous three trips.
In the Fever’s May 24 victory over the Sparks, Sides only played 12 minutes. Smith only contributed 19 minutes to the previous two games combined. On Tuesday night, she made three baskets in three attempts.
The argument over NaLyssa Smith has two sides.
On the one hand, supporters believe that a player who nearly averaged a double-double in 2023 ought to be the starting point for 2024. They attribute Smith’s minor drop to the short sample size. She has shown amazing qualities at times!
screenshot.twitter.com/BvSbZHtqv7
@balapattyvids (@balapattyszn) 9 May 2024
On the other side of the debate, Smith has shown herself to be a defensive liability on a few different occasions, and supporters think that her previous success was limited by the awful team that she played with. Her case wasn’t helped by her early-season struggles with turnovers.
Sides has been using Smith as if she were better off the bench, as he seems to think. It appears from one of Smith’s most recent “likes” on X that she doesn’t agree with Sides’ choice.
Like X, NaLyssa Smith is 1–7 in Indiana. Smith is frustrated even though the Fever’s only victory of the season occurred at the period when she was benched the most. It will be interesting to watch what the second-year head coach decides to do to satisfy her players (aside from Caitlin Clark) if this pattern persists.
