Indiana Fever Part Ways With GM Amber Cox as Team President Kelly Krauskopf Resigns
The Fever confirmed Friday that general manager Amber Cox is out after two seasons, hours after longtime team president Kelly Krauskopf announced she is stepping down. The franchise will run a national search for Cox's replacement.
The Indiana Fever are parting ways with general manager Amber Cox, the team confirmed Friday, just hours after longtime team president Kelly Krauskopf announced she is ending her tenure with the franchise.
Cox joined the Fever in 2024, replacing Lin Dunn, after serving as chief operating officer of the Dallas Wings. In her two seasons, Indiana went 52-36 in the regular season and 5-6 in the playoffs, including a franchise-record 28 wins in 2026. “Through her two seasons with the Fever, Amber has helped us navigate the seismic growth of both the WNBA and our franchise,” Mel Raines, president and CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, said in a statement. “We’re grateful for her contributions and wish her the very best moving forward.” The organization said it will conduct a national search for the team’s next general manager.
Krauskopf’s departure ends a tenure of nearly 30 years with Pacers Sports & Entertainment, which operates the Fever and the Indiana Pacers. She joined the company in 1999 and helped lead the expansion franchise to three WNBA Finals appearances and the 2012 championship. Before that, she was the WNBA’s first director of basketball operations ahead of the league’s 1997 launch, and from 2018 to 2024 she served as assistant general manager of the Pacers, the first woman to hold an executive basketball management role in NBA history. The team said Krauskopf made her decision and informed the leadership group before the end of the 2026 regular season.
Playoff exit and a strained season
Indiana entered the season with title hopes after losing Game 5 of the 2025 Finals, but finished as the No. 6 seed despite fielding the highest-scoring offense in WNBA history, according to ClutchPoints, and lost in the first round to the Las Vegas Aces.
The season also brought scrutiny of the fan base. In Game 2 of the playoff series at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, league MVP A’ja Wilson confronted a fan near the baseline; the fan was escorted from the seat and later allowed to return after the Fever found no violation of the fan code of conduct. Cox defended the fans in her end-of-season exit interview, saying “attacks on our fan base have no basis in reality.”
Star guard Kelsey Mitchell, who averaged 25.7 points a game this season, will be an unrestricted free agent and said at her exit interview that it can be difficult playing in Indiana. “I don’t think people really understand how much we endure, man,” Mitchell said, citing the online hate she receives. Caitlin Clark said Mitchell’s comments were upsetting: “As her teammate, it makes you upset because you care about your teammates so much.”
White expected to stay
Head coach Stephanie White is expected to remain in her role, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told USA Today. White is 52-36 in two seasons with the Fever, and the 2025 semifinal appearance was the franchise’s deepest playoff run in 11 years.
Reporting based on coverage by USA Today, the New York Post and ClutchPoints.
