The Indiana Fever have opened the 2026 WNBA season with a mix of statement wins and narrow defeats, bouncing back with back-to-back home victories over the Portland Fire and Seattle Storm after opening the year with losses to the Washington Mystics and Dallas Wings, both at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Kelsey Mitchell has continued to shine as one of the league’s purest scorers, while Caitlin Clark has been averaging a career-high 24.3 points and 9.0 assists through the first four games.
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Clark, however, missed Indiana’s win over Portland after being added to the injury report just hours before tip-off, a controversial move that drew a warning from the league.
She is currently listed as probable for Friday’s home matchup against the Golden State Valkyries.
But just hours before that game, the Fever made another roster move, signing rookie forward Grace VanSlooten to a rest-of-season contract following her recent waiver by the Seattle Storm.
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VanSlooten arrives in Indiana after a productive college basketball career across two major programs and a brief stint in Seattle.
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At Oregon (2022–24), she made an immediate impact as a freshman, averaging 13.2 points and 5.6 rebounds while earning Pac-12 All-Freshman honors and multiple weekly awards.
She took another step forward in her sophomore season, leading the Ducks with 15.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game before transferring to Michigan State.
With the Spartans, she remained a primary scoring option, averaging 15.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and a career-best 1.1 blocks in 2024–25, followed by 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and a career-high 1.9 steals in 2025–26, earning second-team All-Big Ten honors in consecutive seasons.
However, after being selected 39th overall by the Storm in the 2026 WNBA Draft, VanSlooten appeared in just four games before getting waived, averaging 4.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in 12.0 minutes off the bench.
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Now with the Fever, VanSlooten brings versatility as a 6-foot-3 forward who can score inside, rebound in traffic, and defend multiple positions.
She already flashed some of that in Seattle’s loss to Indiana on May 17, finishing with five points, three assists, two rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in 18 minutes.
Indiana already has guard depth, what they needed was a player who can finish around the rim and hold her own defensively in the paint, taking pressure off Aliyah Boston, Monique Billings, and Myisha Hines-Allen.
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The Fever currently rank near the bottom of the league in rebounding at 32.8 per game and were exposed inside in losses to both the Mystics and Wings.
VanSlooten should help address both issues.
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