Indiana Fever waive guard Celeste Taylor

The Indiana Fever are moving on from guard Celeste Taylor. The organization has waived Taylor, the Fever announced Tuesday afternoon.

In a corresponding move, Indiana has activated Damiris Dantas.

Celeste Taylor was in her rookie season with the Indiana Fever. She was drafted in the second round of the 2024 WNBA Draft with the No. 15 overall pick.

Taylor played for Texas, Duke and Ohio State during her college career. She was named the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Ten and was a finalist for National Defensive Player of the Year award.

This past season, Celeste Taylor started all 32 games for the Buckeyes. She averaged 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds 3.4 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

In 2022-23 at Duke, Taylor started all 33 games. She averaged 11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game that season.

Prior to that, Taylor averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 2021-22 at Duke, 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 2020-21 at Texas and 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 2019-20 at Texas.

As for Damiris Dantas, this is her first year with the Indiana Fever after previously playing with the Minnesota Lynx.

Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky becomes most-watched WNBA game in 23 years

The WNBA continues to set milestones. The Chicago Sky’s nail-biting 88-87 triumph over the Indiana Fever on Sunday was the most-viewed WNBA game in 23 years, per ESPN.

The heated matchup averaged 2.3 million viewers and peaked at 3.3 million viewers. The game was only the latest instance of record-shattering ratings in the WNBA. The Sky and Fever have played three times this season, each time reeling in more viewers than the last.

A significant portion of the viewers tuned in to the game to watch the next chapter in the Caitlin Clark–Angel Reese saga. Since the 2022 season when Reese and LSU defeated Clark and Iowa in the national championship, the pair’s names have been linked.

This connection has not dissipated at the next level. Clark got the better of Reese in the first two games, beginning their WNBA history with a 2-0 record. However, Reese finally stamped a tally in her win column against Clark on Sunday.

Reese earned the victory. In the highly-anticipated matchup, Reese erupted for a season-high 25 points and 16 rebounds while shooting an efficient 8-12 from the field. In comparison, Clark tallied 17 points, 13 assists and six rebounds, connecting on 5-9 attempts from beyond the arc.