The Indiana Fever signed 6-foot-3 forward Grace VanSlooten to a rest-of-season contract on Friday afternoon, adding a player who has already appeared in four WNBA games this year.
The move filled an open roster spot the Fever created on Thursday when they waived guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.
VanSlooten arrives after being taken with the No. 39 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm. She played in four games with Seattle before she was waived on May 18, averaging 4.3 points and 1.5 rebounds per game in that brief stint.
Her pro numbers are a small sample, but they sit alongside a more extensive college résumé: VanSlooten averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in her senior season at Michigan State and was a two-time All-Big Ten honoree. That combination of size and college production is the primary reason she has now moved twice in a month of WNBA basketball.
The timing of the signing matters because the Fever's frontcourt depth was already in flux early this season. Monique Billings missed the season opener with an ankle injury and returned on May 13. Aliyah Boston missed the Fever's game against Seattle on May 17 with a lower leg injury and returned on May 20. Those returns have begun to stabilize the rotation, but the team still opted to add VanSlooten after Seattle released her.
There is a clear tension in the transaction: VanSlooten comes off a four-game run in Seattle that ended with her being waived on May 18, yet the Fever committed a rest-of-season contract to a player who must now earn minutes in a frontcourt that has only recently started to heal. The roster spot opened by waiving Walker-Kimbrough underscores that Indiana chose length and frontcourt reinforcement over backcourt depth at this point in the schedule.
For fans checking the indiana fever schedule, the signing means VanSlooten will be eligible for selection the next time the Fever list their active roster, and she could be available for upcoming games as the team adjusts lineups. Her arrival also changes match-up possibilities: at 6-foot-3, she brings size off the bench and the kind of interior scoring and rebounding the Fever sought when she averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in her final collegiate season.
The crucial question now is whether VanSlooten's brief professional sample — 4.3 points and 1.5 rebounds across four games with Seattle — will translate into a consistent role in Indiana. The Fever have already navigated short-term injuries to Billings and Boston; whether VanSlooten becomes a rotation piece or a depth option will be one of the clearest signals of how the roster will look when the regular rhythm of the season settles in.
Indiana's decision to sign VanSlooten frames the most consequential unanswered question for the team: can a player waived less than a week earlier carve out meaningful minutes and impact in a frontcourt that is only now returning to health?
