The Indiana Fever signed forward Grace VanSlooten on Wednesday, the only clear item in a flurry of late-week roster moves around the league.
The same day the Golden State Valkyries waived Ashten Prechtel, who had been signed to a hardship contract and did not appear in a game before her release.
Prechtel’s exit follows a journeyman path through the league and college game that is recorded in public timelines: she played at Stanford from 2019 to 2023, was a key bench contributor during Stanford’s 2021 championship run, and was selected in the third round of the 2023 WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun before being waived prior to her rookie campaign.
Since then, Prechtel signed a training camp contract with the Washington Mystics in 2025 and another with the Phoenix Mercury in 2026. The Valkyries brought her in on a hardship deal this week and cut her on Wednesday without her logging any minutes.
The Fever’s announcement that VanSlooten was signed arrived as a single headline with no accompanying roster breakdown or contract terms. The primary release contained only that headline and copyright text, leaving the nature of the deal — short-term hardship, training-camp, or a standard roster addition — unspecified.
That gap matters because the Valkyries’ move looks like the inverse of the Fever’s: Golden State said little beyond the transactional note but supplemental reporting made clear the Valkyries signed Prechtel to cover injuries and then waived her as those temporary needs shifted. Sources say Golden State may be nearing the returns of Cecilia Zandalasini, who has been out with a concussion, or Tiffany Hayes, who has been sidelined by a left pinky injury.
The sequence underlines how teams are using hardship contracts and short-term signings to plug holes and preserve roster flexibility when players are injured. Prechtel’s release after not appearing in a game is a reminder that those contracts can be brief — a bridge while teams manage absences and rehabilitations.
For the Fever, the public record stops at the name: Grace VanSlooten. There is no published detail about the length of her deal, the contract type, or where she fits on Indiana’s rotation. Without that, the signing registers as a headline more than a fully formed roster decision.
The most consequential unanswered question after Wednesday’s moves is simple and immediate: what role will VanSlooten fill for the Fever, and under what terms? The answer will determine whether this is a roster tweak with little consequence or a sign the team plans to add depth to its frontcourt on a more lasting basis.
Until Indiana publishes the terms or the club inserts VanSlooten into a game plan, the transaction stands as a single, named addition amid the same-day churn that cost Prechtel a brief roster spot in Golden State.
