Many WNBA players choose to play overseas during the offseason, including several from the Indiana Fever. Among them are guard Kelsey Mitchell, who joined the Shanxi Flame, and forward NaLyssa Smith, now playing for the Zhejiang Golden Bulls in the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association WNBA. 
During a recent preseason game, Smith, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, was involved in a brief altercation with an opposing player. Sporting her signature No. 1 jersey and headband, Smith reacted after being lightly shoved following a three-pointer by her teammate. She retaliated by throwing the ball at her opponent, who responded with a harder throw. Teammates quickly stepped in to defuse the situation.
Kalani Brown, a center for the Dallas Wings and Smith’s former Baylor teammate, revealed that seven technical fouls were issued during the game, likely tied to the incident. Smith recently completed her third season with the Fever, posting career-low averages of 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds while appearing in all 40 regular-season games. Despite averaging nearly 25 minutes per game during the season, head coach Christie Sides played Smith for only 13 minutes across two postseason games against the Connecticut Sun in the first round.
Smith is set to enter the final year of her four-year, $318,649 rookie contract with Indiana in 2025 after the team picked up her option earlier this year. However, her future with the Fever beyond the 2024 season remains uncertain.