While players keep dropping like flies, Fever sign 9-year vet for much-needed wing depth.

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Fever have brought in nine-year WNBA veteran Aerial Powers on a seven-day contract to bolster their wing rotation.

The team was left shorthanded on Friday after Sophie Cunningham was lost for the season with an MCL tear and Chloe Bibby was sidelined pregame due to precautionary concerns with her left knee. That left Lexie Hull as the only available wing, and while she responded with a career-high 23 points in 38 minutes during a 95-90 loss to Minnesota, that workload isn’t sustainable long term.

Powers, the No. 5 pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft, provides depth at small forward. Over her career, she has averaged 10.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists, winning a championship with the Washington Mystics in 2019 and making stops in Dallas, Minnesota, and Atlanta. Most recently, she played briefly for Golden State, appearing in two games while the Valkyries were shorthanded due to overseas absences. She will debut Sunday in Minnesota, wearing No. 23.

Indiana was granted a third hardship waiver to sign Powers, as injuries have piled up across the roster. Cunningham, Sydney Colson (ACL), and Aari McDonald (foot) are all out for the season, while star guard Caitlin Clark has missed more than a month with a groin injury. Powers joins Odyssey Sims and Shey Peddy as hardship signees, though Sims’ status is uncertain after she left Friday’s game in the fourth quarter with a leg issue.

Coach Stephanie White said Sims would be evaluated Saturday, as will Bibby, following her late withdrawal from the game.