The Indiana Fever announced on Sunday that the team has signed veteran forward Odyssey Sims to a hardship contract following the season-ending injuries to Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald, opening up a roster spot through their qualified hardship waivers.
Sims, a former No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, has averaged 11.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game throughout her 11-year WNBA career. During her winding WNBA journey, she has spent time with the Tulsa Shock (2014-15), Dallas Wings (2016, 2023-24), Los Angeles Sparks (2017-18, 2024-25), Minnesota Lynx (2019-20, 2022), Atlanta Dream (2021), and Connecticut Sun (2022).
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Her best season of her career so far was in the 2019 campaign with the Lynx, where she was named to her first WNBA All-Star team and the All-WNBA Second Team. During that season, Sims averaged 14.5 points on 41.5% from the field to go along with a career-high 5.4 assists, career-high 3.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 0.1 blocks on 31:54 minutes per game through 34 contests.
As a collegiate athlete, Sims played at Baylor University, where she was a part of the 2012 NCAA National Championship team and earned Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2014.
As Sims spent the first part of the 2025 season with the Sparks, where she averaged 9.8 points per game and 3.5 assists per game in 11 games started, she should provide a decent scoring boost and fill the void at the point guard position, with Caitlin Clark still recovering from a right groin injury.
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As Sims is signed on a regular hardship contract, her status on the team is not necessarily tied to the 10-available player rule that governs emergency hardship contracts. This could create some roster “gymnastics” if certain additional moves are made, as the team technically has room for up to two hardship players with Colson and McDonald out for the season and Clark out now for more than three consecutive weeks.
If Sims is the only hardship player signed, the team is not required to release her once Clark returns. However, if the Fever decides to sign another hardship player, they would need to release either Sims or the second hardship player upon Clark’s return.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Indiana Fever sign veteran guard Odyssey Sims to hardship contract
