Former California center Michelle Onyiah has taken the next step toward the WNBA, signing a developmental contract with the Indiana Fever this week.
It’s not the full 12-player active roster, but it does put Onyiah inside the Fever’s system. Under the league’s setup, each team can carry two players on a developmental squad.
Those players can practice with the team, travel with it and sit in team meetings, and they can be moved onto the active roster at any point, usually when a teammate gets hurt. Once there, they can appear in up to 12 regular-season games.
Onyiah arrives after a stint in the UpShoit, the WNBA’s equivalent of the NBA’s G-League. She appeared in 21 games for the Charlotte Crown and put up 9.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.
Her move keeps another former Cal player in the league picture as well. Marta Suarez is now on the Phoenix Comets’ active roster after beginning the season on a developmental contract. Suarez, who spent two seasons at Cal before finishing her college career at TCU, has played in 11 games for Phoenix and is averaging 4.0 points and 1.4 rebounds.
Onyiah and Suarez were teammates on Cal’s 2024-2025 team, which went 25-9 and reached the NCAA tournament.
Onyiah spent five seasons at Cal and was a starter in her final year in 2024-2025, when she averaged 12.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. At 6-foot-3, she has drawn attention from WNBA teams for her size and athletic upside.
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