Indiana Fever guard to sit out the 2025 WNBA season

Kristy Wallace, a two-year Fever veteran, announced her decision to forego the season on Tuesday.

Indiana Fever guard Kristy Wallace is sitting out the 2025 WNBA season, the team announced Tuesday morning. As a result, her contract will be suspended, and she will not be eligible to play in the WNBA in 2025, with the Fever retaining her rights.

Wallace, a 29-year-old veteran, appeared in 26 games for the Fever last year, and averaged 4.7 minutes in 17.2 minutes per game. She played a larger role in the first half of the season, but saw it diminish as the season progressed. After starting 15 games early on, she mostly fell out of the rotation by July.

Indiana has no shortage of guards next season. Their backcourt will be anchored by All-Star guards Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell. This offseason, they re-signed Mitchell and added Sophie Cunningham and DeWanna Bonner. Lexie Hull, who broke out last season, will also be in the mix. Given this depth of guards, Wallace likely wouldn’t have gotten a substantial on-court opportunity next year.

“This has not been an easy decision for me, but one that I make knowing it is what is in my best interest at this time,” Wallace said, per team release. “I would like to thank the Fever organization for working with me throughout this process, giving me both time and consideration, and for their support of my decision. I look forward to cheering the team on from afar during this upcoming season.”

Wallace was drafted by the Atlanta Dream in 2018 and spent her rookie season there, before joining Indiana for two seasons. A native of Australia, has also played in Australia’s professional basketball league, the WNBL, for the past 6 years, winning the Sixth Woman of the Year Award in 2022. Before going pro, she starred for Baylor University from 2014 to 2018, averaging 12.9 points per game in her senior season.

She’s the second WNBA player in two days to announce she will be sitting out the 2025 season; Lou Lopez Sénéchal shared she will be foregoing a season with the Dallas Wings this spring. The similarities between the two cases are apparent; both Wallace and Sénéchal are international players (Wallace is from Australia and Sénéchal is from Mexico) and both saw limited on-court opportunities for their WNBA teams last year. Still, limited information has been reported about each players’ motivations for foregoing the upcoming WNBA season.