Indiana Fever Coach Addresses Unusual Roster Decision Before Caitlin Clark's Debut

The Indiana Fever have 13 players on their Opening-Day roster as they head into their regular-season debut against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night.

Teams are forced to trim their final rosters to 12 players before the start of the regular season, but the Fever received an interesting exception due to the suspended contract of Brazilian forward Damiris Dantas.

Dantas was Brazil through the first week of training camp because of visa issues and a family emergency, per the Indy Star. She made it to Indianapolis for the second week of camp, but didn't practice due to a right knee injury.

Fever head coach Christie Sides addressed the situation during pregame media availability on Tuesday.

“We’ll make an official statement about that tomorrow," Sides said, via team insider Chloe Peterson.

While her contract is temporarily suspended, Dantas' salary still counts against the Fever's overall cap. Both Temi Fagbenle and Victaria Saxton made Indiana's Opening-Day roster as a result of Dantas' contract suspension.

All eyes will be on the Fever on Tuesday night for the regular-season debut of No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark. The season-opening contest against the Connecticut Sun will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. ET.