She came in on July 25 with nothing more than a one-week hardship contract. But by the time August began, Chloe Bibby turned what looked like a temporary stop into a full-season stay. Indiana technically had the option to string her along with two more seven-day deals. That would have delayed a decision until after the August 7 trade deadline, but instead they cut straight to the chase. They locked her in for the remainder of the season.
And honestly, it was a well-earned spot. In her two hardship games, Bibby averaged 9.0 points on 45% shooting from the floor and 50.0% from deep. Against the Phoenix Mercury, she poured in 10 points in just 13 minutes! She even splashed two threes as the Fever outlasted the Mercury 107–101. In her debut against Chicago, she had chipped in eight points in 11 minutes of a 93–78 win. Efficiency, energy, and instant impact… that’s not a bad résumé to build in under 25 minutes of total floor time.
Head coach Stephanie White took notice of it. After that Chicago debut game, she said: “She just gives us a different look than any of our other post players. Sometimes you’ll see us go small with Sophie (Cunningham) and Lexie (Hull) at the four. With Chloe on our roster right now, we don’t have to do that. She has really good size, and she has that same ability to stretch the floor.”
Stephanie White speaking about Chloe after her first game. Highlights her combination of shooting + size and also praises her defense not allowing easy entry passes
She also notes that Chloe gives them a different look than any of their other post players pic.twitter.com/82B9YfQrdx
— Cristian (@DouBasket28) July 27, 2025
Those words sure sounded like a green light for 20-plus minutes a night from there, right? Except… not quite. Stephanie White’s rotation in the Fever’s close loss to the Mystics had fans scratching their heads, and more than a few fuming. Because if Chloe Bibby proved she can score, space the floor, and solve lineup problems, why did she spend the night watching instead of playing? Let’s dive into where things went wrong…
Fans Fume Over Chloe Bibby’s Bench Spot
It all started with her logging zero minutes of hardwood time against the Mystics. It happened despite proving time and time again that Chloe Bibby can score. A four-point loss would’ve been easy for her to cover even in her sleep, and the fans knew it. One fan summed it up perfectly: “Someone needs to remind White that Chloe Bibby is on the team.” Another person doubled down on the frustration: “Painful watch. Still no sign of Chloe Bibby, ridiculous tactics from Steph White.”
What stung Indy fans even more than Chloe Bibby’s absence was who played instead. As one post vented: “Even if the Indiana Fever want to play with space, Damiris Dantas is always the last one up the court. Natasha Howard can’t even make a free layup. Again. Still no sight of Chloe Bibby. Stephanie White tactics will make this team miss the playoffs, not the injuries.”
And the frustration felt legit. Natasha Howard finished with 11 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 26 minutes. While Damiris Dantas was better, as evidenced by her 10 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist in just 12 minutes. However, it did not exactly scream “impact over Bibby” either. Even Indiana’s anchor that night wasn’t immune from criticism. “Wth does Stephanie White have against Chloe Bibby? Aliyah Boston’s first few minutes were great. But she’s having a stinker,” one fan said.
For the record, Boston put up 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 assist in 27 minutes. If that’s a “stinker,” then maybe Bibby alone wasn’t going to meet fan expectations anyway. But the point remains: Why did Bibby not get her chance? Which led to a very fair question: “How did Chloe Bibby go from double digit points last game to benched this game? Is she injured?” The answer: no. Bibby wasn’t listed on the injury report. This has become a pattern.
Here are three glaring examples:
August 12 vs Dallas: Chloe Bibby scored 11 points in just 12 minutes, torching from deep in a close 80–81 loss. Fans blasted White for not keeping her in longer.
August 5 vs Sparks: Bibby didn’t touch the court for the first three quarters. By the time she subbed in during the fourth, Indiana was already down double digits. She logged barely 3 minutes.
August 1 vs Dallas: In just 6 minutes, Chloe Bibby delivered 6 points, 1 assist, and 1 steal in an 88–78 win. Still, White kept her glued to the bench far longer than fans thought she deserved.
Those instances make it easy to believe that Stephanie White should have done a better job with Bibby’s minutes. But that’s not it, and one fan nailed the actual problem: “I don’t get the shouts for Chloe Bibby. Our defense was already bad enough. Our ball movement was also bad. I don’t even think we would have generated her many looks. We barely got looks for Sophie.” In short: Shooting wasn’t the issue for Indiana tonight. Defense and ball movement were, and Bibby (a scorer) to the mix, wouldn’t have fixed that.
Stephanie White said as much in the postgame presser: “It was the match-up defensively more than anything with how we were going to try to play them and in some of our switches and things like that. So that was mostly the reason.” She doubled down on the reasoning behind the strict rotation: “Some of it was defense, being able to execute the type of defensive coverages that we wanted to have against the way that they play. Rebounding was some of that, too, making sure we had people that were in position when we were in some of our switches to rebound.”
So no, White doesn’t secretly dislike Chloe Bibby. The situation was such that she had to let Chloe Bibby sit this one out. Do you think it was a good decision? Let us know in the comments!
The post Calls Mount Against Stephanie White’s Decision To Give Fever Star Zero Minutes As Indiana Loses Back to Back Games appeared first on EssentiallySports.