INDIANAPOLIS — Barring any last-minute trades or signings, rookie Makayla Timpson has made the Indiana Fever’s opening day roster.
Indiana waived 26-year-old guard Jaelyn Brown on Tuesday afternoon. Brown came to the Fever from Dallas in a four-team trade in February, but didn’t end up sticking on the final roster.
“It’s really difficult,” Fever coach Stephanie White said Tuesday ahead of the Fever’s announcement. “I think we’re looking for, No. 1, someone who is gonna stay ready so they don’t have to get ready. Somebody who’s gonna be probably in and out of rotation, making sure that they’re okay with that, but also someone who’s gonna be a contributor on the floor and off the floor, I mean, in the locker room, in the huddles, being engaged. So it’s time to get to this position in the season, having to make that last cut. It makes it really, really tough.”
This is likely the final move Indiana will make before opening day Saturday — the Fever are now under the salary cap and have 11 players, which is a league minimum. Indiana can carry up to 12, but salary cap limitations will force the Fever to start the season with 11.
Timpson, 22, will be the only rookie on the Fever’s 2025 roster, at least to begin the season. She was Indiana’s first pick in the draft out of Florida State at No. 19 and has impressed in camp and through the Fever’s three preseason games with her poise and defensive ability.
“KK’s ability to come in and impact from that post position, she just, she doesn’t try to force things,” White said. “She allows things to come to her. She plays with great pace as a young player. And oftentimes you’ll see young players pace too fast. She’s poised and she’s ready when her number’s called.”
Timpson, a forward, will give Indiana some crucial depth behind starters Aliyah Boston and Natasha Howard and backups Damiris Dantas and Brianna Turner. Her inclusion on the roster will give Indiana six guards and five forwards to start the season. Keeping Timpson made sense, in terms of the breakdown of guards and forwards on the roster, in order to have enough depth in the frontcourt.
There are also procedural issues, especially with a new collective bargaining agreement coming in 2026 that promises to increase players’ salaries, that could’ve made it more appealing to keep Timpson over Brown.
Timpson signed a four-year, rookie scale contract with the Fever. According to Spotrac, she will earn $69,267 in 2025, $70,653 in 2026, $77,720 in 2027, and her fourth-year option in 2028 is worth $88,317. When the WNBA and players’ union negotiated a new CBA in 2020, one that included a new rookie scale, rookie salaries signed before the agreement remained unchanged. The new CBA has not yet been negotiated, but the Fever could very well get Timpson for cheap for the next few years if that applies again.
Brown, however, was on a training camp contract, which would have turned into a one-year, minimum salary contract if she made the opening day roster. She would have been an exclusive rights free agent heading into 2026, which would have been subject to new salary parameters by the 2026 collective bargaining agreement.
2025 Indiana Fever roster? Who are Caitlin Clark’s teammates?
As of May 13.
Indiana Fever schedule: When do Fever play next?
Indiana opens the season against Chicago 3 p.m., Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever make final roster cut. See who made Indiana’s 2025 opening day roster
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
