A busy Indiana Fever week: Katie Lou Samuelson waived, DeWanna Bonner arrives and the 2026 offseason takes shape

The team’s roster for 2025 appears to be nearing its final form given the team’s salary cap situation and potential depth chart, but the franchise still has some decisions to make this offseason. And something else has become clear this winter: 2026 will be wild.

All of that and more in this Indiana Fever notebook covering the last week of news.

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Fever and Katie Lou Samuelson agree to contract buyout

The Indiana Fever and Katie Lou Samuelson agreed to a contract buyout this week. The team called it a mutual parting of ways, and the official term in the WNBA (it used to be contract divorce) is contract amendment — mutual termination.

Regardless of those semantics, Samuelson agreed to a buyout. Essentially, she agreed to a reduced salary from the Fever for the 2025 season in exchange for being waived. For Indiana, this means that Sameulson’s cap hit gets smaller — it gives the team more flexibility. For Samuelson, it gives her a chance to move to a different team without losing any money.

It’s a win-win. The 27-year-old wing will now become a free agent upon clearing waivers, and she can pick her next team. Presumably, Samuelson knows she will have contract offers waiting for her, which is why she was willing to take the buyout in the first place. And the UConn product finding a new home does make sense. After the addition of DeWanna Bonner as well as Sophie Cunningham, the Fever have a crowded wing rotation — those two, plus Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Kristy Wallace and Jaelyn Brown form a crowded rotation of off-ball guards/wings.

Samuelson may not have played at all. With another team, she should get rotation minutes — and being an additional year removed from birthing a child should lead to a solid season for the California native.

“Since having [Aliya] (Samuelson’s daughter), my whole perspective on training, basketball and everything has kind of changed just for the better. I’ve been able to play because I want to play and I want to do something for her,” the veteran wing said last season.

She averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game for the Fever last season.

Indiana’s benefit from this transaction is financial flexibility. Per Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats, Samuelson’s buyout amount is $106,419. That means her salary cap hit is reduced by over $70,000 for the coming season — she previously was on a protected $180,000 deal.

Additional flexibility was necessary for the Fever. Now, they’ll be able to keep one of their 2025 draft picks if one impresses during training camp. Prior to this move, the team didn’t have enough salary cap space to do so. Indiana owns the 19th, 20th, and 33rd picks in the upcoming draft. Adding a player on a long-term rookie contract makes sense this offseason, but Brown will make her case to earn a roster spot, too.

The new optionality also could allow the Fever to add a 12th player earlier in the season, should they opt to go that route. That is, of course, presuming they make other moves in the offseason.

DeWanna Bonner just wants to win with the Fever

Bonner was introduced to Indianapolis on Monday in a press conference alongside general manager Amber Cox, president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf and head coach Stephanie White. Other front office members as well as star guard Caitlin Clark sat in the crowd to observe.

Bonner, a six-time all-star, projects to start on the wing. Her size and two-way ability make her an excellent fit with the new-look Fever, and her familiarity with White can only help. Bonner hopes to be an important veteran this season as she begins a new chapter with her third franchise.

While leadership and proximity to family were important to Bonner, her free agency decision was driven by her desire to win. She believes that being with the Indiana Fever gives her the best available chance to do that.

“I want to win. I’m a winner. I feel like that’s where I am my whole career. I don’t see myself taking a step back. And I just feel like just adding to what [the Fever] have that we can take this thing to a different level,” Bonner said.

The veteran forward chatted with Fever legend Tamika Catchings during free agency. The former MVP was a helpful, level-headed reference for Bonner throughout the process.

“She actually helped me a lot in this process. And not just saying, ‘Oh, come to Indiana! Come to Indiana!’ [Instead], just like, ‘What do you want? What do you need?'” Bonner recalled of her conversations with Catchings. “And I’m just like … ‘I just want to win.’ That’s all I kept saying, I want to win,” she added.

Bonner has two WNBA titles to her name and 87 games of playoff experience. She’s won a lot in the past and will hope that continues this season.

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The free agency landscape has been all about finances in Indiana … and everywhere

The aforementioned transaction involving Samuelson was about basketball and games, but it was also about finances. The Fever needed cap space. Without that move (and the previous waivers of Grace Berger and Victaria Saxton), Brown and any coming draft picks would have been essentially unable to make the team out of training camp without Indiana doing something shocking to clear cap room.

The salary cap is dictating everything in the WNBA right now. That’s typical of free agency. For a Fever team that added multiple former All-Stars and key role players while also keeping Kelsey Mitchell, managing their spending is paramount. They’re going to be wrestling the salary cap all year, and every dollar counts.

Indiana has a plan and a long-term vision.

“Thank you for believing in our vision,” Cox said to Bonner during her press conference this week. Those plans will undoubtedly involve a chaotic 2026 offseason — one that every team is bracing for.

Essentially every free agent this offseason has signed a one-year deal. With a new collective bargaining agreement coming for the WNBA next season, salaries are expected to rise across the league. Most players are angling to be free agents at the time.

That means many teams, including the Indiana Fever, will be rebuilding almost their entire roster in 2026. Currently, Clark and Aliyah Boston are the only players who will be under contract next season in the Circle City. The other nine players on the roster right now will be free agents.

Most teams are in a similar position, and it will lead to player movement. Indiana is set up well for it since Clark and Boston are on cheaper rookie deals right now, but they’re in for a chaotic next 12-or-so months. It may be smart for Krauskopf to select, and roster, one of their draft picks this season just to add one less expensive, multi-year deal into the mix.

Bonus: A preseason game… in Iowa??

This news wasn’t from this week as it snuck in just before free agency began. It slipped through the cracks as it was announced on the same day Mitchell re-signed. But it was still major news about the Fever’s preseason schedule.

Indiana will play a preseason game against the Brazilian National Team on May 4. The battle will take place at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at the University of Iowa, where Clark played her college basketball.

Two days earlier, Brazil will battle the Chicago Sky on LSU’s campus, meaning Angel Reese and Clark will return home for WNBA exhibition action. It’s a smart move for all involved — the Fever, Sky, WNBA, Clark and Reese all stand to benefit from the action.

Clark had her jersey retired by the Hawkeyes earlier this month. Carver-Hawkeye Arena is special to her — she called it home for four seasons. She will once again in just over two months as the Fever will descend upon the 15,500-seat venue.

It’s a third preseason game for the Fever, who play at home on May 3 and in Atlanta on May 10. Those two games won’t be as special or as unique as their game in Iowa, though, and Indiana forward Damiris Dantas is Brazilian — she will get a chance to duel with a team she previously played for.

“Yes,” Clark said in a one-word post on X reacting to the announcement of the game.

Fans in Iowa City will get a look at the new-look Indiana Fever soon. The team’s offseason re-shaping appears to be nearing its end.

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