LAS VEGAS — Former Indiana Fever draftee Justine Pissott has a tattoo on her thigh that reads “everything happens for a reason.”
And that tattoo was on full display last week, peeking out just below her shorts as she celebrated one of her five 3-pointers as she made her long-awaited debut with the Las Vegas Aces days after she signed her first standard contract in the WNBA.
It was a record-breaking WNBA debut for Pissott, who played the entire fourth quarter of the Aces’ blowout win over the Phoenix Mercury. That fourth quarter was essentially all garbage time, as Las Vegas was already up 34 points at the end of the third. But Pissott still made her mark.
She finished with 17 points in those 10 minutes with a 6-of-7 showing from the field and a 5-of-6 mark from 3-point range — a record for any player making their debut in the league.
“It was refreshing,” Pissott said of her debut. “I mean, I was very nervous, but I think I was preparing for a moment like this, and I’m just grateful for (President) Nikki (Fargas) and (coach) Becky (Hammon) to give me the opportunity and show everyone what I can do.”
Pissott was the Fever’s second-round pick out of the 2026 WNBA Draft, and she spent the first two months of the season on Indiana’s development squad — a new pool created out of the 2026 collective bargaining agreement. Pissott was with the Fever for 20 games and able to participate in every practice, team event and travel, but she was never activated for a game off her development contract.
“I think just staying ready,” Pissott said of what she learned in her two months in Indianapolis. “It’s going to be a challenge, but just to always keep your faith, and everything will happen for a reason.”
In the draft, the Fever saw her as a high-upside, 6-foot-4 shooter out of Vanderbilt, and they signed her directly to the development squad to prevent other teams from taking her off waivers at the end of training camp.
These development spots were created for players exactly in Pissott’s situation. Because there are only 12 roster spots on each team ahead of this season, a lot of good talent would get waived following training camp and not be able to find a spot on another team. These development spots were for those players that were on the fringe of making a team, but just needed to develop more before they made a 12-player roster.
Development players are eligible to be activated for up to 12 games per season. They make a $750 per-week base salary and get a bonus of $6,136 every time they are activated. When they sign a developmental contract with a team, that team gets exclusive negotiating rights for two weeks. Then, another team can offer the player a spot on the standard roster, and the original team has 24 hours to match by putting the player on their own standard roster.
Las Vegas offered Pissott a standard contract on July 6 when Indiana was on a West Coast road trip. Indiana opted not to match, so Pissott became an Ace.
“I kind of knew that they weren’t gonna match it right off the bat,” Pissott said. “So I just had to get back to Indy as fast as I can and come back here (to Las Vegas).”
Up until she signed with the Aces, Pissott’s only WNBA action available for teams to watch came in the preseason when played 10 minutes against the New York Liberty, scoring eight points on 2-of-4 shooting
Still, the Aces saw a lot of potential based off her college film.
“We watched a lot of her at Vanderbilt,” Hammon said. “Obviously, size and shooting, that’s exactly who she is. Obviously, you guys know I like shooters, and one that’s 6-4, I especially like.”
Indiana drafted her exactly for that upside Hammon mentioned. So, why did they let her go?
Even though Pissott had a lot of potential, she did not mesh well in the Fever locker room.
The Fever front office have long held a belief that the 10th, 11th, and 12th players on a roster — and now, by extension, the developmental players — are most important for the culture of a team on any given season.
Those players are not going to get into the game very often. That’s just the fact of the matter; teams typically run 8-9 player rotations, and the ones at the end of the bench are left out. That means that those players at the end of the bench need to be, above all, a great presence in the locker room.
Especially on a team like the Indiana Fever, which gets hit with unfathomable vitriol on a daily basis.
“I think the biggest takeaway from a season ago is just how connected our locker room was, and how important that is to teams,” Fever coach Stephanie White said at media day in April. “Connected teams are winning teams, and it’s not always going to go the way that we want it to go, individually or collectively, but maintaining that connection, being able to have honest conversations with one another, being able to hold one another accountable and be held accountable, being able to lift one another up and be each other’s biggest supporter.”
At the end of the day, whether Pissott or Damiris Dantas was sitting at the end of the bench as the 12th player, they would not be getting significant minutes on the court. So, the Fever front office and coaching staff wanted to prioritize players like Dantas and rookie Grace VanSlooten, who not only fit into the locker room culture, but elevate it.
“First and foremost, they’re great culture players, great culture teammates, they’re going to be ready when their number is called,” White said on July 7. “Grace is a young player who I think can really develop into a solid four in this league, DD is a veteran who understands how to stay ready so she doesn’t have to get ready, who we can play in certain lineups and certain matchups, who are going to give us great minutes in practice as well, and who are going to help continue to elevate and build and pour into our culture.”
Pissott had a strong debut via a blowout, but she struggled defensively in the Aces’ next game against the Fever, her former team. Indiana hunted shots against Pissott in the Fever’s 109-75 win, knowing her defensive tendencies, and she struggled to rebound. Pissott ended up playing 14 minutes in that game, shooting just 1 of 5 from the field (0 of 3 from 3-point range).
The Fever didn’t see a way that they could open up a roster spot for Pissott, White said, but this process is exactly what developmental spots are for — to make sure players are ready for opportunities when they come.
“We know she can shoot the ball, there’s no doubt about that,” White said July 12 ahead of the Fever’s game against Las Vegas. “I’m happy for Justine, I’m proud of her. This is exactly what these positions are for: to keep players ready to get opportunities when roster spots are available, and to take advantage of them. I thought she did that.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why the Fever allowed high-upside draft pick to sign with Aces: ‘Everything happens for a reason’
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
