One of the biggest news to come out this WNBA offseason is the Indiana Fever’s decision to fire head coach Christie Sides after her second year leading the team.

The ripple effect of this decision has still not fully materialized, as the Fever still have not announced their next head coach (although the consensus seems to be that former Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White will take over her job), nor whether Sides will eventually coach another WNBA team.

However, during a segment of ESPN’s “The Elle Duncan Show” released Thursday, Duncan discussed another ripple effect that she believes could influence the Fever’s dismissal from Sides: the stunted development of its young players.

“If the goal of every season — if you look at Indiana especially — is to make the postseason after not making the postseason since 2016, and you also have to think about player development,” Duncan said.

“This is now another Caitlin Clark coach… you’re talking about a team that really started to catch fire late last year, and now they’re going to have another coaching change. And for Aliyah Boston, that will be her second coaching change. This will be the same for Caitlin Clark,” Duncan continued.

She presumably meant that this would be Boston and Clark’s second coaching change in their short WNBA careers rather than their second coaching change, as this is the first coaching change that both Clark and Boston have undergone during their time with the Fever.

“It just makes you wonder to what extent you are hindering, or at least slowing down, their potential development or growth by introducing a new regime,” Duncan concluded.

It’s certainly an interesting take, and time will tell if Duncan is right. But given Clark and Boston’s extraordinary talent (combined with Stephanie White as one of the league’s most respected coaches), we have a feeling the Fever’s development could skyrocket once she takes over in 2025.