Caitlin Clark is out for at least another week, and injuries continue to pile up for the Indiana Fever. Sydney Colson, Clark’s backup, and Sophie Cunningham both went down with injuries in a loss Friday to the Connecticut Sun, leaving just eight healthy players on the Fever roster.
Due to the mounting injuries, the WNBA granted Indiana a hardship exception, which, per the CBA, allows teams with “fewer than ten (10) players on its roster who are able to play” to temporarily sign a player until they have ten active players again.
The Fever used the exception to sign guard Aari McDonald, the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft, on Monday.
Indiana isn’t the only team that’s been bitten by the injury bug. The Phoenix Mercury also used the hardship exception to sign Haley Jones on Sunday after injuries to Kahleah Copper, Alyssa Thomas, and Natasha Mack dropped them to nine active players. The Los Angeles Sparks were the first team to use a hardship contract this season when they signed 2025 third-round pick Liatu King on May 20.
Long-Term Solution
The hardship contract is a Band-Aid solution for teams dealing with injuries, and it’s alarming three teams have already needed the exception less than a month in to the WNBA season.
Cameron Brink, the Sparks big who has been sidelined due to an ACL tear, offered a solution last week on her podcast Straight to Cam. “I think roster sizes need to be expanded before we add any more expansion teams,” Brink said.
WNBA rosters are limited to just 12 players, with some teams choosing to enter the season with the league minimum of 11 players, like the Fever, for salary or roster management.
NBA teams don’t need to access the hardship exception as frequently due to their roster sizes, which max out at 15 full-time players. NBA teams also have players on two-way contracts that can fill injury gaps, though those players spend most of their time in the G League, a developmental league that the WNBA does not have.
Roster expansion is another potential issue the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association can look to address in the next CBA that will begin next season, if the two sides can agree. Increased player salaries are the hot topic in CBA negotiations, but roster expansion is tied into that discussion as larger contracts and additional players per team both affect the league’s salary cap.
