Amid injuries and overseas commitments, the Los Angeles Sparks have signed Grace Berger to a rest-of-season hardship contract, the team announced on Tuesday.

Berger, a third-year player out of Indiana, was most recently a member of the Minnesota Lynx. The Lynx waived her before the start of the season. She was a member of the Indiana Fever in 2023 and 2024, playing a total of 47 games and averaging 3.9 points per game in 13.3 minutes.

From the Sparks' perspective, Berger is a welcome addition as the team has a slew of players from its normal roster unavailable. Los Angeles lists five players on its injury report for its next game, Tuesday night against the Seattle Storm. Julie Allemand is away at EuroBasket while Odyssey Sims is away from the team for personal reasons.

Meanwhile, Cameron Brink is still working her way back from her ACL injury, while Kelsey Plum (Leg) and Rae Burrell (Knee) are nursing injuries themselves.

Under normal circumstances, that would leave the Sparks with only seven available players, necessitating Berger's addition. The Sparks also signed Shay Peddy to a hardship contract on June 14.

Berger will face Mackenzie Holmes, her former Hoosier teammate, in her first game with the Sparks on Tuesday night. The Storm signed Holmes to a contract on Monday.

Sparks' Cameron Brink calls for expanded rosters

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Between the normal wear-and-tear of a WNBA season and overseas commitments like EuroBasket, teams around the league are making temporary additions. As Brink has pointed out multiple times, that wouldn't be quite as necessary if the W allowed for more than 12 players on a roster.

She said on her “Straight to Cam” podcast on Monday that roster expansion should be a bigger priority than adding expansion teams.

“I think now rosters need to be expanded before you know we add any more expansion teams,” she said. “Like we've had, you know, three people out. Now we're at 10 people. It puts a lot of strain on people that are signed into hardships, you know all of that.”

Brink's guest, Sue Bird, agreed, but cautioned that it's more complicated than it sounds. With a limited salary cap, expanding rosters would mean lower pay for the other players on the team. It will undoubtedly be a topic of discussion as the WNBPA negotiates the next WNBA CBA.