INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever haven’t been to the playoffs in seven years. It’s the longest active drought in WNBA history, and a true feat in a league where eight of 12 teams make the playoffs each year.

The last time the Fever made the playoffs, Tamika Catchings was in her 15th and final season.

That misfortune almost changed last season — the Fever were in playoff contention up until they had five games left, when they were eliminated by the Dallas Wings.

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Coming out of this season's Olympic break, the Fever are sitting at seventh in the WNBA standings 11-15 with 14 games left.

So, what will it take for the Fever to break their postseason drought?

Looking at numbers from 2017-2023, there isn’t much of a precedent for the number of games the Fever would need to win to have a good chance at the playoffs — the WNBA’s number of games per year have fluctuated in recent years, both due to an ever-expanding season and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the second season WNBA teams have played 40 games — up from 36 games in 2022 and 32 games a season from 2017-21 (excluding 2020, which had 22 games in the WNBA bubble).

Over the past seven seasons, only one team with less than a .400 winning percentage made the playoffs (New York was the eighth seed in 2021, scraping by with a 12-20 record, .375). The highest winning-percentage team to be the eighth seed since 2017 was Chicago in 2023, going 18-22 (.450).

The average win percentage for the eighth seed in the past seven years is .428.

With 14 games left in the regular season, the Fever sit seventh with an 11-15 record (.423). They are in near-equal standing with Chicago (10-14). Both the Fever and Sky are 10.5 games back of the league-leading Liberty, but Chicago is technically eighth in the standings with a .417 winning percentage.

Based on the recent average win percentage of 8-seeds, the Fever will need to finish 17-23 (.425) to have a good chance at making the playoffs.

With the hardest portion of their schedule behind them, too, winning at least six of their final 14 games should be achievable.

Here’s a breakdown of the Fever's remaining schedule.

Winnable games

Chicago Sky, Aug. 30 away: The Fever came within one point of the Sky at Wintrust Arena in their last meeting, but a lackluster final quarter sealed Indiana’s defeat. A more poised Fever team could take the victory against the Sky on the road coming up this month.

Atlanta Dream, Aug. 26 away + Sept. 8 at home: The Fever have already beaten Atlanta twice this season and have always come away as the more well-rounded team on the court. The Dream will have Rhyne Howard, the 2022 No. 1 pick, back following the break, but the Fever should be able to beat the Dream both times.

Los Angeles Sparks, Sept. 4 home: The Sparks were the Fever’s first win of the season after starting 0-5 back in May, but the Sparks turned around to beat the Fever just two games later on Indiana’s home court. Los Angeles did lose its star rookie, Cameron Brink, for the season because of an ACL tear, and the team has been disjointed ever since, sitting at 10th in the standings.

Washington Mystics, Sept. 19 away: This will serve as the final game of the regular season and the Fever’s final away game after a six-game homestand. The Fever have already beaten the Mystics twice, and Washington has been dealing with multiple injuries throughout the course of the season. Indiana has a good chance to end the regular season with a victory.

Toss-up games

Minnesota Lynx, Aug. 24 away + Sept. 6 home: The Fever stole a win from the Lynx, a top-3 team, on the road in the week before the Olympic break, but Minnesota’s top player in Napheesa Collier was out and it was essentially a home game for the Fever with the number of Caitlin Clark and Iowa fans in the building. Collier, now healthy, and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve are returning from Paris with gold medals, and the Fever’s visit to Minneapolis on Aug. 24 will also be the same game the Lynx retire WNBA legend Maya Moore’s jersey. They’ll really want to win that one.

Phoenix Mercury, Aug. 16 at home: The Fever have beaten the Mercury twice this season, but one of those wins came as Phoenix had just six available players. With this game coming just out of the break, the Fever have the advantage of rest and practice time — Indiana had one player at the Olympics, compared to Phoenix’s four (all starters). The Mercury are still above .500 at 13-12, though, and those kinds of teams are hard to beat three times.

Dallas Wings, Sept. 1 away + Sept. 15 home: The 6-19 Wings should be the easiest of the toss-up games for the Fever to win (enough so that it almost went in the winnable games category). But the Fever have lost both matchups, however close, to the Wings this season — one in the preseason and one in the final game before the break. With forward Satou Sabally (18.6 ppg average) likely returning from a shoulder injury and guard Arike Ogunbowale off another All-Star Game MVP nod, the Wings could be dangerous again.

Difficult games

Seattle Storm, Aug. 18 home: Indiana has lost to Seattle three times this season — twice on the road, once at home. It seems like the Fever don’t have an answer for Storm forward Jewell Loyd, who scored over 30 points in two outings and over 20 in the other.

Connecticut Sun, Aug. 28 home: The Fever were plagued by three of their games against the Sun coming at the beginning of the season, and none of them went well. In one, coach Christie Sides benched all starters except Aliyah Boston for a lack of effort in a blowout loss. The Fever have improved a lot since that game, but Connecticut is still on a trajectory to be possible WNBA finalists (or even champions).

Las Vegas Aces, Sept. 11 + 13 home: The two-time defending WNBA champions have not loaned any favors to the Fever in their first two meetings in Las Vegas, as Indiana lost by 19 points in each outing. Las Vegas had four players on Team USA (and others on different Olympic teams). At best, the Fever could possibly steal one of these games, especially with both being at home in Indianapolis, but it would be a dogfight.

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How many more wins do Indiana Fever need to make WNBA playoffs?