The Indiana Fever waived Shatori Walker-Kimbrough on Thursday afternoon, clearing the way for the team to move toward its final roster spot under the league’s new 12-player requirement.

Walker-Kimbrough, 31, appeared in two of Indiana’s five games this season, and both came in garbage time. She signed with the Fever on a veteran’s minimum, was paid $300,000 because of her years of service, and counted $277,500 against the cap. In 2019, she won a championship with the Mystics.

Her exit leaves Indiana with one roster opening to fill soon. The Fever can elevate Justine Pissott or Bree Hall from development contracts, add a player from free agency, or sign someone off another team’s development squad, though that team would then have the chance to match the deal.

Walker-Kimbrough had come in as a veteran voice and was not expected to play many minutes, which made the move less about her role than about the roster math now facing Indiana. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, every team must carry 12 players, and the Fever reached Thursday with five games already behind them and a spot still open.

That is the pressure point for Indiana now. The team has options, but it has to choose quickly, and whatever path it takes will say as much about its immediate needs as it does about the kind of depth it wants around its core.