NEWS AND EVENTS

Indiana Fever to Retire Catchings’ number

The Indiana Fever announced Tuesday that they will retire the No. 24 jersey of Tamika Catchings.

The formal ceremony will take place June 24, when the WNBA champion Los Angeles Sparks meet the Fever at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Catchings retired at the end of last season after a 15-year career in the league.

The Catchings announcement was made in conjunction with release of the WNBA’s 2017 schedule. One sign of the post-Catchings era is that the Fever were excluded from any of the nine regular season games to be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.

The Fever will open under new coach Pokey Chatman with two road games: at Seattle on May 14 and at Phoenix on May 17. The home opener is May 20 against the Connecticut Sun. The Fever also play the Sparks at home on May 24.

Under the second year of a 34-game balanced schedule, the Fever will play the Washington Mystics four times and the 10 other teams three times each. The finale is Sept. 2 at home against San Antonio.

Chatman and point guard Briann January will participate in a select-a-seat event Dec. 15 at the fieldhouse.