What’s common between Nikola Jokić, Dennis Rodman, Gilbert Arenas, Manu Ginóbili, Draymond Green? Well, while none of them made it to the hallowed first round during their respective Drafts, the numbers on the court spelled otherwise. On the W side, Makayla Timson has kind of a similar story, too. Picked 19th overall by the Indiana Fever in April this year, it took her no more than three months to shock fans, prompting them to ask more of her during games.

It all began when FeverStats came up with quite an interesting revelation on X on July 3.

“The Fever are undefeated when Makayla Timpson plays 10+ minutes,” the pinned post reads, complete with a picture of the rookie. Whether this is a coincidence or not can be up for debate. But looking at Timpson’s trajectory, many will argue it’s most likely not. Notably, during her time as a Florida State Seminoles player, the 22-year-old dished out the conference’s seventh 100-block season in history during her final year. And not just that…

Timpson has also made ACC’s all-defensive team a staggering three times (all years except freshman), and clinched the conference’s Most Improved Player in 2023. What’s more? She finished her college basketball career with 1,706 points, 1,094 rebounds and 290 blocks, becoming her program’s all-time leader in double-doubles (47). In 2023-24, the young phenom also set single-season program records in rebounds (341) and blocks (87), only to break her own record the next season with 350 rebounds and 103 blocks. The Fever star was also the third player in program history to surpass 1,000 career rebounds after Sur Galkantas and Natasha Howard.

“She’s a player who, throughout the course of college, just continued to get better, continued to get more efficient. She does things that you can’t teach. She’s got a great feel about her and patience, and she’s coachable. The decisions that we make, some are about this year and some are about the future. And KK [Timpson]’s got a bright future ahead of her,” head coach Stephanie White had said of Timpson. Now, that’s a stunning compliment for someone who thinks, “I’ve been pretty good on defense, just making sure that’s my anchor and rebounding, running. Just doing the little things I can do to stay on the court.” 

However, Indy fans are demanding more than just “little things” from Timpson now.

Indiana Fever Fans Want More of the “Little Things”

Coming into the WNBA, the Fever franchise was a perfect fit for Timpson. It’s because she had the OG Florida State alum for a mentor here. Indiana Fever forward Natasha Howard texted Makayla Timpson before each game during her junior year at Florida State. “Happy Game Day. Take the shot you want to take, and if you don’t have the shot, rip and go,” read Howard’s messages. And now, their mentor-mentee relationship has only strengthened since Timpson joined Indiana. “She’s been leading me the way, guiding me through this process and keeping my head on right,” Timpson said.

And fans have taken good notice of Howard’s role in shaping Timpson. It showed when one person commented “Its been great that Howard has taken her under wing and is leading and teaching Timpson on how to become a good pro player. Great role model for her. KK’s confidence is growing each game.” 

However, there’s another duo that the fans can’t wait to see more of. Many expressed, “I can’t wait for Caitlin and Timpson to play together.” We see the vision there, Clark’s offense combined with Timpson’s defense could truly cause trouble for the opponents. After all, as one fan pointed out, Timpson has a “Tim Duncan caliber defense.”  Ironically, though, Timpson only received considerable playing time with Caitlin Clark and Damiris Dantas out temporarily due to an injury and AmeriCup duties, respectively.

Before Caitlin Clark was ruled out, Timpson had only seen 10 minutes of action twice, and even those were in preseason games. But over the last three matchups, she’s clocked in 14, 11, and 14 minutes. For the first time, she’s averaging over 10 minutes in regular-season play. And here’s the fun coincidence: this stretch also marks the Fever’s first three-game winning streak of the season.

Speaking of Dantas, some fans expressed their wish to turn her temporary absence into something a little more permanent by writing “I’d rather play KK than Dantas.” However, we think it might be too early for that. And after returning from playing for Brazil, Damiris will continue in her spot. Because she has been averaging 5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game, whereas Timpson is still at 0.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg.

But some people did have a valid argument to keep playing Timpson over anyone else. They referenced Indiana Fever’s first 3 game winning streak and said “You know what’s changed for The Fever in the last couple of games? Timpson – our rook is ready.” 

Whatever might be the reason, it’s been a great week for the Indiana Fever and its fans, because it seems like they have actually found their groove, even with their star player Caitlin Clark away. Hopefully, for Indy fans, they’ll step into the Gainbridge Fieldhouse looking to extend that streak to 4 against the Sparks tomorrow. Stay tuned to know how that goes…