The ties that bind: The WNBA's Fever and NBA's Pacers are more than just neighbors in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark is doubly disappointed about how the NBA Finals are going right now.

One, the Indiana Pacers lost Game 4.

Two, Clark can’t be there for Game 6.

Clark and the Indiana Fever have a good reason for why they won’t be at the Pacers’ last home game of the season on Thursday, when Indiana — which will be either up 3-2 or down 3-2 to the Oklahoma City Thunder by then, depending how Game 5 on Monday goes — plays host to Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

The Fever will be at Golden State that night, playing the expansion Valkyries.

“I was hoping they'd win it in five,” Clark said.

That can't happen now. But somehow, some way, the Fever will be paying some sort of attention to what’s going on at home Thursday night. The Pacers and Fever aren’t just neighbors. They’re basically basketball family. They have the same ownership, play their games in the same building, cross paths with the other all the time.

And they rave about one another, with players from one team almost always cheering on the other.

“I think young kids, if you watch basketball, you turn on and watch the Pacers,” Clark said. “It’s unselfish. They play for each other. They play fast. They play up-tempo. They do things the right way. Whether you’re a starter or whether you’re coming off the bench, you’re giving everything you can to your team. It’s really fun to watch.”

Much has been made of how this is a special time for basketball in basketball-mad Indianapolis, and the Pacers and Fever are both reveling in it.

The Pacers played host to the 2024 NBA All-Star Game and went to the Eastern Conference finals last season. The Fever flipped how many people think about the WNBA last season in Clark’s rookie year, with swarms flocking to their games — home and away — to see the former Iowa star play. There’s the NBA Finals going on now. The WNBA All-Star Game is coming to Indy this summer, and it’s not hard to envision Clark and the Fever making a deep playoff run of their own this year.

“She’s an incredible player, someone that I have a ton of respect for, also a good person,” Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said. “I’ve been following her career, especially when she got drafted by the Fever. We all are happy to have her in Indy. It’s been fun to watch.”

Clark and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton are close friends, and that’s just one of the many real and deep ties between the franchises. It’s not a big deal to see Pacers players at Fever games; it always happens. It’s not a big deal to see Fever players at Pacers games; they’re always there, too.

“It’s been amazing watching the Pacers,” Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said. “They’re so much fun to watch. I think we resemble their team quite a bit in the way we move the ball and the way we’re trying to play.”

Fever coach Stephanie White played her high school and college basketball in the state of Indiana, then spent the bulk of her WNBA playing career with the Fever. Nobody needs to explain to her what the game means in the state.

“I was here the last time the Pacers were in the finals, back in 2000,” White said. “I remember being in the building and just feeling all that energy. It’s exciting. There’s no better place, the epicenter of basketball in Indiana and Indianapolis.”

She sees some parallels between how the Pacers built a contender and how the Fever are trying to become one again.

“The way that they’ve built and rebuilt with the roster, the patience that they’ve shown in the roster and in roster movement, the adversity that they faced early in the year,” White said. “They were this fast, exciting offensive team a year ago to being a solid defensive team that has won regular-season games and playoff games for them when the offense wasn’t really flowing.”

Soon, the Fever will be the only game in town again. The NBA season is nearly over. There are either two or three games left. And then, the Pacers will take their seats in the crowd to watch the Fever for the next few weeks.

Clark made it clear: The teams really do get a benefit from being around the other.

“More than anything they’re just really good people,” Clark said. “They’re good guys. So, I’ve been really fortunate to be here during this time.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

Caitlin Clark, center, waves from her seat during the first half of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA basketball playoffs between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

Indian Fever basketball players Caitlin Clark, right, and Aliyah Boston watch during the first half of Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indian Fever basketball players Caitlin Clark, right, and Aliyah Boston, center, watch during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Voters in Kosovo cast ballots on Sunday in an early parliamentary election in hopes of breaking a political deadlock that has gripped the small Balkan nation for much of this year.

The snap vote was scheduled after Prime Minister Albin Kurti's governing Vetevendosje, or Self-Determination, party failed to form a government despite winning the most votes in a Feb. 9 election.

The deadlock marked the first time Kosovo could not form a government since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a 1998-99 war that ended in a NATO intervention.

The prime minister's party is again the favorite in the race, but it is unclear whether it will manage to muster a majority this time in the 120-member parliament, after other mainstream parties refused an alliance.

According to Kosovo’s election laws, 20 parliamentary seats are automatically assigned to ethnic Serb representatives and other minority parties.

Another inconclusive vote would further deepen the crisis. Kosovo has not approved a budget for next year, sparking fears of possible negative effects on the already poor economy in the country of 2 million people.

Lawmakers also are set to elect a new president in March as current President Vjosa Osmani’s mandate expires in early April. If this fails too, another snap election must be held.

The main opposition parties are the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Democratic Party of Kosovo. They have accused Kurti of authoritarianism and of alienating Kosovo’s U.S. and European Union allies since he came to power in 2021.

A former political prisoner during Serbia’s rule in Kosovo, the 50-year-old Kurti has taken a tough stand in talks mediated by the European Union on normalizing relations with Belgrade. In response, the EU and the United States imposed punitive measures.

Kurti has promised to buy military equipment to boost security.

No reliable pre-election polls have been published. Kurti's party at the previous election won around 42% of the votes while the two main rival parties had together around 40%.

Analysts say that even the slightest changes in numbers on Sunday could prove decisive for the future distribution of power but that nothing is certain.

Ilmi Deliu, a 71-year-old pensioner from the capital, Pristina, said he hoped the election will bring a change or “we will end up in an abyss.”

"Young people no longer want to live here,” he said.

Tensions with restive ethnic Serbs in the north exploded in clashes in 2023 when scores of NATO-led peacekeepers were injured. In a positive step, ethnic Serb mayors this month took power peacefully there after a municipal vote.

Kurti has also agreed to accept third-country migrants deported from the United States as part of tough anti-immigration measures by the administration of President Donald Trump. One migrant has arrived so far, authorities have told The Associated Press.

Kosovo has one of the poorest economies in Europe. It is one of the six Western Balkan countries striving to eventually join the EU, but both Kosovo and Serbia have been told they must first normalize relations.

Supporters of Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista prepare to go at a polling station and cast their ballots in an early parliamentary election in the northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

A voter arrives at a polling station in an early parliamentary election in the northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

A voter prepares her ballot at a polling station in an early parliamentary election in the northern Serb-dominated part of ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)

People walk past a giant banner of the leader of VV (Selfdetermination) political party Albin Kurti, in the capital Pristina on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

People waiting in the iluminated bus station with banners of LDK (Democratic League of Kosovo) leader Lumir Abdixhiku in capital Pristina on Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)