Stephanie White Celebrated as Court Coach for USA Basketball Ahead of 2026 Season

Stephanie White and the Indiana Fever are set to begin the 2026 WNBA season on May 9, hosting Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings. In 2025, her first year back as head coach of the Fever, White led Indiana to a 24-20 record, guiding them on one of the more surprising playoff runs of the year before falling 3-2 to the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. And the Fever did all this with Caitlin Clark missing most of the season, including the entire playoffs.

During the offseason, White continued her coaching career as an assistant under Kara Lawson for the U.S. women’s national team. White and Team USA competed in the 2026 FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament, where they went a perfect 5-0. Clark, making her Team USA senior debut, was also named the TISSOT MVP of the tournament.

Advertisement

White has also served as a court coach for the USA women’s team training camps in November 2023 and, most recently, in December. And she will continue to do so in April when Team USA holds its preseason training camp ahead of September’s FIBA World Cup.

While White is back with the national team, both Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese have been excluded from the training camp roster. Some of the players that were included on the roster include Bueckers, New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier and even USC Trojans star JuJu Watkins, who is coming off an ACL tear.

Advertisement

The Fever reacted to White rejoining Team USA as a court coach with a social media post, congratulating the former WNBA Coach of the Year on the honor. Many WNBA fans followed suit, sharing their reactions in the comments section.

“congrats, coach! 👏,” the Fever wrote on Instagram. “Stephanie White will be a court coach at the @usabasketball Women’s National Team training camp in April.”