Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham & Others React to Fever Coach’s Big Personal Announcement on Social Media

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – JUNE 16: Indiana Fever guards Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark 22 reacts after defeating the Toronto Tempo on June 16, 2026, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire WNBA, Basketball Damen, USA JUN 16 Toronto Tempo at Indiana Fever EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon26061658 IMAGO/Icon Sportswire

Originally posted on EssentiallySports | By Ojus Verma | Last updated Sep 10, 2026 12:18 AM ET

The Indiana Fever is enjoying an unusual break in the middle of the 2026 WNBA regular season, with the league pausing play to make way for players representing their countries at the FIBA World Cup. Two Fever stars, Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, are in Berlin, while head coach Stephanie White is also with Team USA as an assistant coach. But amid all the action overseas, the Fever have received a joyful update of their own.

Indiana assistant coach Karima Christmas-Kelly and her husband, Austin Kelly, announced the birth of their second baby, Kali, and the franchise couldn’t help but celebrate the newest addition to the Fever family. The team shared a picture of the couple with their newborn on Instagram, with Christmas-Kelly sporting a Fever hoodie as she held her little one, making the personal milestone feel even more connected to the franchise.

“Welcome to the Fever fam, Kali!

Congrats to assistant coaches Karima Christmas-Kelly and Austin Kelly on the newest addition to their family

,” the Fever wrote in the caption of their post.

This heartwarming announcement quickly brought some of the Fever’s biggest names into the comments and reactions, with the team’s stars celebrating the newest member of the franchise family.

Caitlin Clark, who is currently preparing to represent Team USA against Hungary in the World Cup quarterfinals on Thursday, liked the post, while Lexie Hull also reacted to the announcement.

Sophie Cunningham, meanwhile, couldn’t hide her excitement as she took to the comments and wrote, “Kali

For Christmas-Kelly, the arrival of Kali adds another special chapter to a family that has already grown alongside her basketball career. She has been with the Fever since 2023 as an assistant coach and previously welcomed her first child, son Zayn, with Austin in 2023. The couple first met as student-athletes at Duke before getting married in April 2017.

Christmas-Kelly is currently away from the Fever on maternity leave, and the World Cup break has given Austin more time to be with his family as well. In her absence, though, the Fever brought in Gary Kloppenburg as an interim team adviser, while Tully Bevilaqua was elevated to interim assistant coach.

For a team spending much of this break scattered across the globe, the announcement gave the Fever a chance to come together around something far removed from basketball.

That celebration, however, comes as Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and assistant coach Stephanie White remain focused on a very different challenge in Berlin. Team USA almost fell to Italy in their second group-stage game, and now that the tournament is in its knockout phase, stakes couldn’t be any higher.

Team USA has won the last five World Cups in a row and is on a 33-game win streak since 2006. The current group is widely expected to maintain that standard.

The Americans enter the quarterfinals after finishing the group phase with a 3-0 record. Caitlin Clark leads the team with 6.3 assists per game, while Boston has been leaving her mark as the team’s center. If everything goes their way, the Americans are well on their path to reaching the final, where they could potentially face France on September 13.

Once the FIBA tournament closes its curtains, the Fever contingent will return to face the Toronto Tempo on September 18 as the WNBA season resumes. By then, the Fever will have their attention firmly back on a playoff push that was already taking shape before the international break.

The Fever have already clinched their berth in the playoffs and currently sits fifth in the WNBA standings with a 26-14 record. With four regular-season games remaining, Indiana still has an opportunity to improve its position before the postseason begins.