Amber Cox Is Out as Fever GM After a Franchise-Record 28 Wins and a First-Round Exit

Photo: Indiana Fever / WNBA.com. Amber Cox, Indiana Fever COO and general manager, at a Gainbridge Fieldhouse press conference.

The Fever's president and general manager both left Friday. Pacers Sports & Entertainment announced the departure of Amber Cox, the Fever's chief operating officer and general manager, hours after Kelly Krauskopf said she was stepping down as team president. The Fever went 52-36 in the regular season across Cox's two years, won a franchise-record 28 games in 2026 and went 5-6 in the playoffs, by The Dyme's count.

Two seasons, one ceiling

Cox was hired as COO and GM in October 2024, per Yahoo Sports, after two years as COO of the Dallas Wings and a run as vice president for sports with the Connecticut Sun from 2016 to 2021. She replaced Lin Dunn in the GM chair. Yahoo reports Krauskopf was directly involved in hiring her.

Year one went 24-20 with White on the bench and ended in the semifinals, a 3-2 loss to Las Vegas. Caitlin Clark missed that playoff run with a groin injury and a bone bruise in her left ankle, per NBC News. Year two went 28-16, the best record the franchise has ever posted, and ended in the first round against the same Aces, 2-1.

By The Dyme's count, Indiana went 5-6 in the playoffs. USA Today calls the 2025 semifinal trip Indiana's deepest postseason run in 11 years.

The roster Cox leaves behind

The 2026 Fever could score with anybody. Per Basketball Reference, they led the league at 96.0 points a game and a 117.0 offensive rating. Kelsey Mitchell averaged 25.7 points, second in the WNBA, per USA Today and Yahoo. Clark averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists, and NBC News reports nobody else in the league averaged at least 22 and eight. Clark, Mitchell and Aliyah Boston all started the All-Star Game.

The defense told the other half. Indiana allowed a 110.3 defensive rating, ninth in a 15-team league. Against Las Vegas that gap showed up in Game 3, when A'ja Wilson put up 36 points and 10 rebounds and the Aces closed it out 94-83.

Clark went for 27 points and 15 assists in a 99-89 win that forced Game 3. In Game 3 she scored 18 with six turnovers.

Who decides now

The next hire walks into a crowded desk. Mitchell will be an unrestricted free agent after playing this season on a one-year deal, per USA Today and Yahoo. Sophie Cunningham is a free agent too. Boston had right knee arthroscopy on Oct. 15 to repair the lateral meniscus, and the team gave no timeline.

So the first big call of the offseason, whether to pay the league's second-leading scorer, now lands on a front office with no president and no GM.

Mitchell's exit interview adds weight to that meeting. She told reporters, per USA Today, "I don't think people really understand how much we endure, man," and pointed to hate in her DMs as part of what makes playing in Indiana hard. Cox used her own exit interview to say "attacks on our fan base have no basis in reality," after a Game 2 incident in which Wilson confronted a fan near the baseline.

The coach stays, for now

Keeping White is the one piece of continuity left. In two seasons she is 52-36, and her career WNBA record is 144-92, a .610 win percentage, per USA Today. Cox had floated "continuity" with White at exit interviews, telling reporters, "I think the expectation is always championship. We didn't meet that expectation, but we're going to learn from it and we're going to grow."

What comes next

The team says it will run a national search for the next general manager. White is expected to stay, per USA Today and multiple other reports.

Sources: Indiana Fever, Cox departure announcement (Oct. 23, 2026). USA Today, Meghan L. Hall. Yahoo Sports, Kari Anderson. AP, Doug Feinberg. ESPN. Indiana Fever, Krauskopf announcement (Oct. 23, 2026). Basketball Reference, 2026 Fever, 2026 league ratings, 2025 Fever. NBC News, Rohan Nadkarni. AP via ESPN, Aces beat Fever in Game 3. Indiana Fever, 2026 All-Star starters. Indiana Fever, Boston surgery (Oct. 15, 2026).