Can Indiana Fever Get Caitlin Clark Help in the Form of Satou Sabally? Will Expansion Draft Prove Helpful in Free Agency Signing?

Satou Sabally is looking for a change in scenery after spending five years with Dallas Wings. The 2x WNBA All-Star declared that she will be entering the free agency to explore her options. This has obviously led to a lot of people trying to recruit her to their teams, including the Fever fans. It turns out that Sabally isn’t against the idea of joining Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever squad.

She relayed her intentions to change her team on TikTok while applying make-up. The 26-year-old revealed that she is going to switch her current shoe endorsement with the Jordan brand and will also depart from Dallas Wings before the 2025 WNBA season. She said,

“It’s a lot of movement for me this offseason. The decision of moving with a potentially different shoe brand, also the decision to change teams. Yeah, so, I’ll be a free agent this year, and oh my god, I feel like this is super exciting.”

Many in the comment section urged her to join the Indiana Fever. Intriguingly, Sabally liked those comments, not shutting down the idea of joining Clark next season.

She has a great chance at teaming up with Clark next season. Sabally was on a 1-year, $195,000 contract with the Wings last season.  She will be hunting a deal that is over $200,000 per year now.  Next season, the Fever have a cap room of $657,639.

They would love to retain both Kelsey Mitchell and Erica Wheeler to uphold their guard depth. However, both of them earned over $200,000 this year and would command a similar, if not, a greater number. Even if the Fever gets them both on deals over $200K, it still leaves the space to sign Sabally so there is a chance that Fever manages to land her while keeping their high-quality scoring guards. 

Sabally will be a great addition to the Fever. Last season, she missed 25 games due to a shoulder injury but looked wonderful during her return. She put up 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, which are All-Star numbers. She will be an upgrade over NaLyssa Smith at the PF spot since Smith was not as versatile offensively as the 5-year veteran.

Sabally is a Wing-type player who creates quick offense. She can play both off-the-ball while also having the ability to put the ball on the floor and either drive to the rim or make tough mid-range jumpers.

The Fever desperately needed someone like her last season when their frontline couldn’t buy a bucket in crucial situations. The upcoming Expansion Draft can further ease their road to land the All-Star level forward.

Can the Expansion Draft help the Fever get Sabally?

Next season, the WNBA will add an expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries. The expansion draft to shape the Valkyrie’s roster will take place on December 6. As per the rules, the existing teams can protect up to six players, while Valkyrie will take an unprotected pick of their choice from each of the 12 teams.

The Fever are likely to retain Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Aliyah Boston, and Erica Wheeler. As for the sixth player, NaLyssa Smith looks like a lock but the franchise has the golden opportunity to upgrade their frontcourt by unloading Smith and bringing in Sabally.

It sounds like a win-win for all parties. Smith will get ample minutes to build a new identity for a freshly constructed squad whereas Sabally will be able to upgrade Fever’s frontline.

There is one huge hitch with landing Sabally and letting go of Smith. The five-year-vet has missed more than half of the games during four out of five total seasons. Having both Sabally and Smith gives injury insurance while also bolstering the frontcourt depth.

However, it will be interesting to see if NaLyssa Smith agrees to come off the bench as she will love to have a starting spot in her contract year during the next season. At any rate, the Indiana Fever have a great chance to land Satou Sabally and help Clark with an elite roster from top to bottom.