Welcome to another episode of the Adrien  Ross Show, where sports and culture  connect. I imagine that Indiana Fever  fans all know by now that the team  signed Ariel Powers to a 7-day hardship  contract since Sophie Cunningham is out  for the rest of the season. You may know  more about her than I do. I’ve heard  people say things about her over time.  Many consider her, I imagine, a baller.  I’ve heard that she didn’t get along  with her coach in Minnesota, coach  Cheryl Reef.

Of course, you’d be  hardressed to find any player who hasn’t  had friction with the coach at one point  or another, but I guess this was  something something. I remember  something about a plane. I remember  seeing that months ago. Anyway,  interesting part about that to me is  that her first game with the Fever and  she’ll be playing against coach Cheryl  Reef. But fever fans,  we couldn’t care less about all that  really. Right now, we want Ariel Powers  to come in and elevate this team, help  this team get a win today against  Minnesota. Notice I said elevate, which  is perfect because her name is Ariel  Powers. It’s kind of Yeah. Anyway, I’m  not going to spend a lot of time going  over the announcement of her coming to  Indiana. I’ll show you just a little bit  really quickly. I’m not going to be  showing you highlights of her time in  the WNBA.

Just going to hit on the  background information of her coming on  the team very quickly and then I want to  get to some things that she herself has  posted. And I don’t mean just since she  was signed to the Fever. I’m going to  show you some of that, too. But even  something she posted before she came to  the fever, before it was even going to  be a thing about her coming to the  fever, because I I find it interesting  and I like it. So, let’s do start though  really quickly with what the Indiana  Fever shared about her coming on over to  the organization. So, I’m going to be  showing some some things from X, some  things from the Indiana Fever. All the  links will be in the description of this  video. The Indiana Fever posted this on  the release that came out on Saturday.

Indiana Fever signed Ariel Powers to  7-day hardship contract. Welcome, Ariel  Powers. And it tells us a little bit  about her. She is a 9-year WNBA veteran.  She was a number five selection in 2026.  and she was, let’s see, she was on the  WNBA all rookie team. She’s 5’11. She’s  a guard. She was part of the Washington  Mystics when they won the championship.  And she also, as I already mentioned,  she played with Minnesota. That was for  three seasons with the Minnesota Lakes.  She also played with the Atlanta Dream  in 2024. And for her career, she  averaged 10.4 points per game, 3.3  rebounds per game, and 1.6 26 assists  per game across her career. And we know  that she did have a short stint with the  Golden State Valkyries this season. And  so, welcome number 23, Ariel Powers.  Ariel shared the Fever’s announcement on  X welcoming her and she just wrote,  “Pinch me. So excited and blessed to be  here. Let’s go.” This is what Ariel  posted after showing up at Indie. She  got her Indiana Fever gear on and she  wrote, “In Indiana Fever fans, what’s  up? God is good.” If you feel me,  leaving. Amen. Come on, somebody.  Speaking my language. Let’s watch this  uh little video she posted.

What is up,  Indiana Fever fans? Thank you for  welcoming me. I am so happy to be a part  of the organization. And not only that,  for my supporters that have been  supporting me through this journey, I  appreciate you, too. God put this on my  heart. I was actually just shooting and  I broke down and started crying. You  probably can kind of tell.  God put this on my heart to share with  you. On the background of my phone,  there’s a picture and it says, “When the  time is right, I, the Lord, will make it  happen. Through things in life, trials  and tribulations, ups and downs, where  is your faithfulness? Do you walk by  faith and not by sight?” Right? Because  for me, this journey, you guys already  know what it’s been like, right? I’m  happy to be here. And I want to share  this because it might be somebody on  this other end that might be going  through something in life and they’re  doubting yourself or doubting the Lord.  And for me, when you change your heart  posture into being grateful through all  things, things are changed for you.

People might say, “For me, it’s a  seven-day contract. What you tripping  about?” But I’m grateful for it. And  when you’re grateful for the small  things, God can bless you for the bigger  things. So, thank you guys for  supporting me. And without further ado,  let’s go for basketball. Let’s get it.  Now, if y’all know me, you know I’m  loving that, right? But what I love  about that is that she didn’t just start  talking about having faith, believing.  She didn’t just have a positive message  and about being grateful after she got  what she wanted, which was to to  obviously be able to play basketball in  the WNBA. Albeit, she signed a 7-day  contract. She’s still grateful for that  7-day contract. But she didn’t just  start talking about, “Oh, how thankful I  am after I got what I wanted. I’m going  to take you back to Turkey and show you  something she posted even when she  wasn’t signed to a contract.” kind of  reminds me of the Fever fans who have  continued to cheer the team on in the  midst of adversity and say, “Hey, we’re  with you. We’re believing for you.

We’re  cheering for you.” You know, it’s easy  to be on the bandwagon when everything  is going well. Show me the people who  said, “I’m going to be grateful for  every bit of this journey  because it’s been one of adversity and  yet we’re continuing to fight.” Anyway,  let’s get back to Ariel Powers. We’re  going to go to when she was in Turkey.  As you can see down here, the date on  this is August 11th. And the caption is,  “This is on my heart to share.” So, let  me hit post.  Can we just talk about how patient you  have to be to walk by faith and not by  sight? Like, can we talk about how  patient God is? And if you’re trying to  be anything like him, your patience  needs to be at a high level. I’m right  now in Turkey, right? You guys know that  I didn’t play this year in the WNBA.  This is the first time. And honestly,  because of my walk in my faith, I am so  like,  how can I say this? I’m so at ease.  I’m actually not sad, not depressed. I’m  just lead, letting God lead. And I’ve  been here going to the beach, hanging  out, just finding myself, getting closer  to God. And it’s only because I’m  literally walking by faith and not by  sight. So if you’re going through a  transition period in your life and  you’re just not sure, I am here to tell  you God is with you and he will provide  everything you need.  See, what you saw right there is what  many of you understand and I know  because I communicate with many of you  and what some people still don’t  understand.

This is why this is where  sports and culture connect because it’s  so much bigger than just the sport  itself. Now, I have no idea what it’s  going to look like when Ariel Powers  puts on an Indiana Fever jersey wearing  number 23, steps on the court, and  starts to play basketball. I don’t know  what it’s going to look like. I hope she  can really elevate the team. But be that  as it may, whatever happens, she’s  saying now what she was saying back  then, even before this whole thing had  unfolded, and that is, I trust God. I  have faith. I’m going to walk it out. I  still have joy. I’m not depressed. I  trust God. She’s saying the same thing  now that she was saying then, faith. And  while you have faith, you still had to  work because faith without works is  dead. So, let’s look a little bit at  some of the work she was doing while she  was waiting in faith. We’re going to go  back to X.

Here she is still in Turkey.  And what did she post? Stay ready so you  don’t have to get ready. Something we  hear the Indiana Fever players saying a  lot. This was August 2nd. Stay ready so  you don’t have to get ready. Let’s take  a look at what she’s doing to stay  ready.  [Music]  We need some of that. We need some of  that. I’m sure you packed it up and put  it in a bottle and brought it from  Turkey. Let’s go. And here we see that  somebody  posted this video taking us back to this  says the 2025 All-Star weekend, but it  was the 2024 All-Star weekend based on  what Ariel Power says in this video. But  in any case, uh the caption says full  interaction with Ariel, Caitlyn, and  Aaliyah.

It says at 2025 All-Star  weekend, but it’s got to be 2024.  Anyway, it was captioned on Ariel’s  YouTube vlog. And when Ariel re-shared  this or shared this, she wrote in the  caption, “Full circle moment.”  All right, y’all. So, we are here with  Kayn Clark and Aaliyah Boston. I got a  few questions. First, this is your first  Allstar. How do you feel?  It’s pretty fun. Cool experience. Just  trying to soak it in, honestly.  Yeah. Good, good, good. And how are you?  You’ve been balling out this year. How  you feel being here? I’m feeling good.  Second allar. I mean, that’s fun.  Entertaining.  I don’t even know what else to ask  y’all. For real.  Follow on Instagram.  Yes. Follow them. Follow them.  Full circle moment is what Ariel asked.  Okay. I’m going to leave you with one  more thing.

These are some words that  Ariel spoke after the Golden State  Valkyries let her go this season. She  was only there, I believe, to fill in  for Tami Benley while Tammy  Fagbenley went overseas to play ball at  the same time that Deir Dantis had gone  over and others. And let’s take a look  at how she handled being released from  the Valkyries. We’re going to go to  athlonsports.com.  The headline is one-time WNBA champion  sends message after getting waved by  team. Now, I’m not going to read all of  this, but you can see here that this was  released on June 25th, 2025. And the  first paragraph says, “The Golden State  Valkyries announced on Wednesday that  guard Ariel Powers has been waved.”

And  we’ll just scroll down a little bit.  And it says, “An hour after the news was  released, P quote tweeted the Valkyrie’s  post on X to express her gratitude for  her experience.” This is what she said.  “This chapter may have ended, but God’s  plan for me hasn’t. I gave my all and  walked away with memories, growth, and  gratitude. To the Valkyries, thank you  for the opportunity. what you’re  building is amazing and I was grateful  to be part of it. And then she went on  to the fans who welcomed me with open  arms. Your love did not go unnoticed.  I’m thankful for every message, cheer,  and moment.

To the ones who surprised me  through the highs and lows. I see you  and I feel your love. I’m proud of the  work I put in and even prouder of the  woman I’m becoming. The journey doesn’t  stop here.  That’s another example of how important  it is in this business not just to be a  baller, but to be a person of character.  And we can see there that she handled  the situation of being weighed by the  Valkyries with incredible character and  grace. Not just toward the organization  itself. That’s exceptional. But also  toward the fans. And so now the fans of  the Indiana Fever will have an  opportunity to cheer for Ariel Powers.  And the game tonight is going to be the  first time we get to see her suit up in  an Indiana Fever jersey.

I do intend to  go live for the game tonight. So, if you  like to have a good time and enjoy  positivity and maybe a little bit of  running and dancing and singing and  praying, we do it all, then you are  absolutely welcome to join us. And if  you’re not sure if you like positivity  when you’re watching a game, you’re  welcome to come and find out. You’ll be  able to pick up on it really fast if  this is the place for you. And if it is,  hey, we’d love to have you. I’ll catch  you next time, God willing. God bless  you abundantly.