Ex-Indiana Fever Star Breaks Silence on Possible Exit From Caitlin Clark & Co.’s Allegiance

“Actually I am from New York, so I used to go to Liberty games growing up. I was a ball girl couple of times,” a sentimental Celeste Taylor recollected her childhood memories of her favorite sport and her brush with W, after being drafted with the Indiana Fever. However, contrary to expectations, her stay in the Fever was short-lived as the league took her on a difficult ride. And now that the W is over, the 23-year-old opened up on being waived by the Fever and her dreams crashing down, at least for some time.

On Friday at freelance writer Łukasz Muniowski’s podcast, Taylor shared her views on having an uncertain time with the Fever and whether it affected her.“Yeah, I think as a rookie you know you come in, and you just… you’re just trying to find your role. You’re trying to find your spot especially if you’re not like you know a household name like Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese or Kamilla. Like you’re trying to find your place,” Taylor stated.

While Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso, and Caitlin Clark had made a name for themselves, the Fever drafted Taylor in the second round in April. The New York-born stayed with Clark & Co. till June 25 before being waived after playing five games.

“You’re trying to find your spot, and so when I was in Indiana I was just trying to navigate my whole rookie, you know, year. You know you go into something and you’re excited, but you still have a focus of making the team.,” Taylor enumerated. Though she averaged just 3.2 minutes on the court, which wasn’t a significant time, Taylor, instead of taking it personally, shared the rationale behind the management’s decision.

“And so Indiana had a… had a different situation where we had 13 players on a roster for a certain amount of time. Somebody was injured so one person always had to go since the beginning and so obviously you know was the rookie. So I understood that at some point it could have been me,” Taylor added.

Though it is mandated that a franchise can have only 12 players, the Fever’s star Damiris Dantas had visa issues and a family emergency, which forced her to miss the camp, including the first week. After that, she suffered a right knee injury, so the franchise temporarily suspended her contract, opening up a spot. However, when she recovered, Taylor had to be cut off to accommodate Dantas.

“But I got positive feedback, um, from the coaches and the GM, and so it wasn’t really a lot for them to tell me. So just a positive feedback of them you know telling me you you’ve done everything we asked you to. You know there’s only 144 spots so it’s really up to them who they decide to keep and who they decide to have in their program and it’s not a knock on me.,” she expounded. Meanwhile, Clark was the only other rookie with the Fever but as we know it would have been a blunder to waive her. And Taylor seems to have made peace with the fact.

The sound round pick shared that she did not let that hit her confidence since “I knew I belonged, and so I think you have to have that and you have to consistently have that fight.” And though the franchise released her, it was due to the tough situation facing them. “It’s only 144 people only play about six or seven people on the team so it… it’s just you know it’s just a part of life it it happens was I happy with it,” Taylor concluded. However, her issues did not stop there.

Celeste Taylor proved her mettle in the WNBA

Once the Fever waived Taylor, she signed a 7-day contract a few weeks later with the Phoenix Mercury. But this time, too, her luck didn’t favor her since her contract wasn’t renewed. Next, the FIBA Under-19 World Cup gold medallist got a spot with the Connecticut Sun. But the same story repeated itself. After playing two games for the Sun and barely taking the court, her 7-day contract wasn’t renewed once again. While that could have been the end to her W story, fortunately, the Mercury recognized her worth.

Taylor signed a 7-day contract with Mercury again before renewing it to get a third contract with the team. Eventually, the team noticed her efforts and gave her a full-season contract. This time, she took the court in 15 games, starting in 4 of them. Although she wasn’t the chief scorer, she lived up to her potential and made some crucial passes, averaging more than 20 minutes per game.

“Phoenix was giving me I guess better feedback in a sense… And like you know people saw me play more with Phoenix. So I felt already comfortable within that organization. And with the girls and with the coaches, and so ultimately you know I ended up getting a… a rest of the season contract with Phoenix and you know it’s been great,” Taylor expressed.

And as she plays for the Sydney Flames in the off-season, hopefully, she will be able to score well and become a core starter for the Mercury when she comes back next season. Till then she can share her experiences and give courage to all those who might be facing difficult situations in their lives.