Kelly Krauskopf Steps Down as Fever President After 13 Playoff Trips in Her First Run and the 2012 Title

Photo: Indiana Fever / WNBA.com. Kelly Krauskopf, Indiana Fever team president, from the team's Oct. 23 announcement.

Kelly Krauskopf is stepping down as president of the Indiana Fever, Pacers Sports & Entertainment announced Friday, ending a run that started before the franchise played its first game in 2000. The release names no successor. It credits her, as the Fever's original president and general manager, with 13 postseason appearances, including a WNBA-record 12 in a row, three WNBA Finals berths and the 2012 title.

The team says Krauskopf made her decision and told leadership before the 2026 regular season ended.

Her first run

Krauskopf joined PS&E in 1999 and became the Fever's original president and general manager. Before that she was the WNBA's first director of basketball operations, helping establish the league's rules, scheduling and officiating policies ahead of the 1997 launch.

The 13 trips belong to that first run. The team's September 2024 announcement of her return gave the same count of 13 postseason trips and three Finals in seven years before she came back. That release says the 2012 championship came with Lin Dunn as head coach and Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings leading the roster.

In 2018 she moved to the Pacers as assistant general manager, which the release calls the first time a woman held an executive basketball management role in the NBA. She spent six years there before coming back.

The second run, by the numbers

Krauskopf returned in 2024 as president of basketball and business operations. The team says the Fever reached the semifinals in 2025 and returned to the playoffs in 2026.

The 2025 Fever went 24-20 under Stephanie White as the sixth seed, beat Atlanta 2-1 in the first round and lost the semifinals to Las Vegas 3-2, per Basketball Reference. Caitlin Clark missed the 2025 playoffs with a groin injury and a bone bruise in her left ankle, per NBC News.

In 2026 Clark was healthy. She averaged 22.3 points (third in the league) and 8.3 assists, and NBC News reports she was the only player in the WNBA to average at least 22 points and eight assists. Clark, Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston were all named 2026 All-Star starters.

The Fever finished sixth. Per Basketball Reference, Indiana scored 96.0 points a game and posted a 117.0 offensive rating, both first in the league. The defense allowed a 110.3 rating, ninth in a 15-team league. A loss at Minnesota in the regular-season finale locked the Fever into the No. 6 seed, per USA Today, and Washington held the tiebreaker with a 2-1 record against Indiana, per NBC Sports. That sent Indiana to Las Vegas, the No. 3 seed and defending champions.

The series went three. Las Vegas won Game 1 by 17, 102-85. Clark answered in Game 2 with 27 points and 15 assists in a 99-89 win. Then A'ja Wilson scored 36 with 10 rebounds in Game 3, Clark scored 18 with six turnovers, and the Aces won 94-83.

The offseason without a president

General manager Amber Cox said it plainly at exit interviews: "I think the expectation is always championship. We didn't meet that expectation." White said her own future is the organization's call. Cox praised White's relationships with players and talked about continuity, without a firm answer.

Friday's release does not say who replaces Krauskopf or whether Cox picks up the full basketball portfolio.

The team announced Oct. 15 that Boston had a right knee arthroscopy to repair the lateral meniscus, with no timeline given.

The release also says Krauskopf helped lead the development of the Fever's new $78 million sports performance center, a 108,000-square-foot facility scheduled to open in March 2027.

The 2026 record

Twenty-eight wins is the most in franchise history, per the Fever's season-ending release, and the offense led the league in points per game and offensive rating, per Basketball Reference. Three Fever starters were named All-Stars.

Since Clark arrived in 2024, the Fever have one semifinal trip (2025), two first-round exits (2024 and 2026) and no Finals trip.

Sources: Indiana Fever, Krauskopf announcement (Oct. 23, 2026). Indiana Fever, 2024 announcement of Krauskopf's return. Basketball Reference, 2026 Fever, 2026 league ratings and standings, 2026 per-game leaders, 2025 Fever. NBC News, Rohan Nadkarni. USA Today, final 2026 seeds. NBC Sports, 2026 seeding and tiebreakers. OurSports Central, Fever close out 2026 regular season. AP via ESPN, Aces beat Fever in Game 3. Bleacher Report, Game 3 box score. Wikipedia, 2026 Indiana Fever season. Indiana Fever, 2026 All-Star starters. IndyStar, 2026 exit interviews. Athlon Sports via Yahoo, Cox on White. Indiana Fever, Boston surgery (Oct. 15, 2026).