{"id":699662,"date":"2026-04-05T14:21:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699662\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:21:24","slug":"indiana-fever-how-offseason-sets-up-after-wnba-expansion-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699662\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever: How offseason sets up after WNBA expansion draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 In Friday\u2019s WNBA expansion draft, the Indiana Fever lost Chloe Bibby<\/a> (to the Portland Fire<\/a>) and Kristy Wallace<\/a> (to the Toronto Tempo<\/a>). The good news? Those two combined for just nine appearances and 88 total minutes for the Fever last season. Wallace hasn\u2019t even played for head coach Stephanie White<\/a>. The Fever\u2019s core will remain intact and, pending free agency, their depth could look similar next season.<\/p>\n

The bad news? Two potentially useful parts of that depth have relocated. Bibby\u2019s shooting<\/a> (39.1% on 3-pointers) provided points and spacing for the Fever last season. And Wallace \u2014 who will reunite with Team Australia head coach Sandy Brondello<\/a> in Toronto \u2014 is a useful off-ball player on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

They both have their weaknesses, too, but there\u2019s a reason they were selected in the expansion draft. Part of that reasoning is also presumably that both players have beneficial contract statuses for an expansion team. (All salary terms mentioned throughout are from the Her Hoop Stats WNBA Salary Cap Database<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Wallace is a suspended-contract expired player<\/a>, meaning her suspended contract from last season has now expired. She can only negotiate a new deal with the Tempo and not with other teams with that designation. Bibby will be a reserved free agent<\/a> if the Fire send her a qualifying offer, meaning she can negotiate a new deal with Portland but not with other franchises.<\/p>\n

Team control is valuable for expansion teams, just like it would have been for the Fever. But Wallace and Bibby now head elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWishing Chloe and Kristy the very best,\u201d Fever general manager Amber Cox shared on social media<\/a>. \u201c[Bibby] will always be a part of the Fever family \u2014 [she] hit some big shots in key moments for us last season! And what a fantastic human! Never got to work directly [with] Kristy but enjoyed our few interactions and thrilled to see her back in the W!\u201d<\/p>\n

With those two gone, Lexie Hull<\/a> \u2014 who was almost certainly protected in the expansion draft \u2014 is the Fever\u2019s only free agent who doesn\u2019t project to be unrestricted. She is a restricted free agent. That means that, as long as Hull is sent a qualifying offer (and the Fever are certain to do so), Indiana will be able to negotiate with her and match any deal she signs with another team. That gives the Fever a significant advantage in keeping her around.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark<\/a>, Aliyah Boston<\/a> and Makayla Timpson<\/a> are already under contract for the coming season. Every other free agent who finished the 2025 season with Indiana and wasn\u2019t selected in the expansion draft is an unrestricted free agent. They are free to negotiate, and sign, anywhere. That group of players consists of Kelsey Mitchell<\/a>, Aari McDonald<\/a>, Sophie Cunningham<\/a>, Natasha Howard<\/a>, Sydney Colson<\/a>, Damiris Dantas<\/a> and Brianna Turner<\/a>. Odyssey Sims<\/a>, Bree Hall<\/a>, Aerial Powers<\/a> and Shey Peddy<\/a> ended the 2025 season on hardship contracts with the Fever and are also unrestricted free agents.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark\u201d is out now!<\/p>\n

Howard Megdal\u2019s newest book is here! \u201cBecoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar\u201d captures both the historic nature of Clark\u2019s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.<\/p>\n

The new CBA and the upcoming Fever offseason<\/p>\n

The league\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) raised the salary cap and minimum salaries. The current Fever trio of under-contract players accounts for just under $1.4 million in total salaries, well under the hard salary cap that is currently projected to be at or about $7 million.<\/p>\n

That gives Indiana a hair over $5.6 million to spend in free agency. It\u2019ll have nine open roster spots, plus two of the newly added developmental roster spots to add less experienced talent. Under the new CBA, teams can sign seven players to protected contracts as opposed to six under the old system. The Fever have zero of those deals currently on the books (rookie-scale deals like Boston\u2019s don\u2019t count).<\/p>\n

Priority No. 1 for the Fever? According to Clark, it\u2019s re-signing Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first priority is to sign Kelsey Mitchell<\/a> back. [She] was first-team all-WNBA last year. Kind of my running mate in the backcourt; she makes it real easy for me,\u201d Clark said during an NBA on NBC broadcast<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great squad, a great coach, a great support staff, so it\u2019s super exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell is core eligible, meaning the Indiana front office could designate the All-WNBA guard as a core player by sending her a core qualifying offer. That is a one-year offer with a salary at the supermax, the same type of deal Mitchell was on last season. Mitchell cannot sign a contract with another team if she is sent a core qualifying offer but can negotiate a different deal with Indiana.<\/p>\n

Teams can only core one player at a time. So after Mitchell, things get hard to predict. Basically every team in the league will have cap room and money to spend, so there is a chance that many players change teams.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the abbreviated offseason could encourage players to stay with their previous team for another year \u2014 moving and getting ready for training camp in a short window would be chaotic \u2014 then let the dust settle on the new CBA before making a more significant contractual decision next season. It\u2019s hard to predict what will happen at this stage.<\/p>\n

\"FiveThe Indiana Fever huddle during Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Sept. 25, 2024. (Photo credit: Domenic Allegra | The IX Basketball)<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Fever team wanted to add shooting and defense around Boston, Clark and Mitchell. Those skills will still be important, and the ability to play in an up-tempo style would be a bonus.<\/p>\n

Hull, Cunningham and McDonald are great fits given those skills. Turner grew as a defender and pace fit throughout the season last year and was playing almost 18 minutes per night in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Dantas\u2019 shooting faded last season, Colson suffered a significant injury, and Howard\u2019s value was up and down. All of them have reasons they could be brought back \u2014 leadership, veteran know-how and actual basketball value \u2014 but proved to be slightly worse fits than other Fever free agents last season.<\/p>\n

Indiana also has three draft picks<\/a>, one in each round, in the coming WNBA Draft and could opt to spend on external free agents who fit their style of play. With so much cap room available, predicting what Cox and Fever president Kelly Krauskopf will do is challenging.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget about trades. That\u2019s how the Fever acquired Cunningham last year. There may be fewer swaps between teams this year with fewer players under contract, but it\u2019s all on the table.<\/p>\n

Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n

Also of note for the Fever\u2019s upcoming season<\/p>\n

The Fever will play their previously announced 44-game schedule<\/a> this season. That number could go up in future years.<\/p>\n

Since announcing their schedule in January, the Fever have seen two changes. One is a preseason tweak \u2014 they will host the Nigerian national team<\/a> for a tune-up game in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 2. The other preseason games for the Fever: April 25 in New York against the Liberty and April 30 at home against the Dallas Wings.<\/p>\n

Also, the Atlanta Dream announced that five of their 22 home games this season will be played at State Farm Arena, which is much larger than their usual home court of Gateway Center Arena. Two of those five games will be against the Fever \u2014 one on June 20 and the other on Aug. 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans bring unmatched passion and energy every night, and bringing five games to State Farm Arena allows us to share that atmosphere with even more people,\u201d Dream chief operating officer Morgan Shaw Parker said<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n

The Fever, and whoever is on the roster, will kick off their regular season on May 9 with a home game against the Wings.<\/p>\n

Looking for more on the WNBA expansion draft?\u00a0Read all our coverage of it<\/a>\u00a0at The IX Sports.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 In Friday\u2019s WNBA expansion draft, the Indiana Fever lost Chloe Bibby (to the Portland Fire) and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[87262,40302,87885,8619,51254,7,455,34621,3732,459,10553,87886,2622,458],"class_list":{"0":"post-699662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-2026-wnba-expansion-draft","9":"tag-2026-wnba-free-agency","10":"tag-2026-wnba-schedule","11":"tag-aliyah-boston","12":"tag-amber-cox","13":"tag-basketball","14":"tag-caitlin-clark","15":"tag-chloe-bibby","16":"tag-fever","17":"tag-indiana-fever","18":"tag-kelsey-mitchell","19":"tag-kristy-wallace","20":"tag-lexie-hull","21":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116352548742936622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}