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Lower than three weeks faraway from the most important stage, Raven Johnson is already chasing one other title. Now a member of the Indiana Fever, Johnson finds herself in a profitable tradition, just like the one she skilled through the 5 years she spent in Columbia, South Carolina.
Johnson, an Atlanta native, has been a confirmed chief and winner at each stage. She opted to play for the Daybreak Staley, who has emerged as one of many premier coaches in girls’s basketball. Staley is infamous for her excessive requirements, a coach who expects nothing however excellence from her gamers. Deeply invested in gamers and their households, Staley has constructed a powerhouse in South Carolina.
Johnson departs this system that helped form her—and vice versa. Thought of one of the vital embellished gamers in Gamecock historical past, she earned two Nationwide Championships beneath Staley, was the 2026 SEC Defensive Participant of the 12 months, and garnered AP All-American honors.
New threads, new quantity 🔥
No. 10 general choose Raven Johnson now in No. 3 for the @IndianaFever! pic.twitter.com/9cr4kK8pbP
— WNBA (@WNBA) April 22, 2026
Staley lengthy vouched for Johnson nicely earlier than she was drafted.
“Raven Johnson is a winner,” Staley instructed ESPN after South Carolina’s victory over LSU. “Look it up within the dictionary. Look it up in your iPhone. Raven Johnson is a winner. She makes performs, profitable performs… She’s most likely the one I am going to miss probably the most out of all of the gamers that I’ve coached.
The purpose guard is thought for her defensive prowess, typically taking over the accountability of being an on-ball defender. She boasted a 138-71 file over 4 full seasons with the Gamecocks.
A Acquainted Championship Normal
It isn’t simply basketball-related. Johnson is a real level guard who possesses unbelievable courtroom imaginative and prescient and IQ. She was even lauded for her offensive enchancment. In her ultimate 12 months, she recorded a career-best 9.9 factors, 5.1 assists, taking pictures 48.6% from the sphere and 39.8% from past the arc. In 40 video games, she tallied 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
Apart from the stats, it is the intangibles that separate her from the remainder. Johnson is a winner, plain and easy. A frontrunner at coronary heart, she was the glue for a number of years. Orchestrating the offense, she was the anchor that led the Gamecocks to 3 SEC Match Championships and 5 Ultimate Fours.
She even gained three state titles at West Lake Excessive Faculty, one in every of which got here with Ta’Niya Latson, who later transferred to South Carolina her senior 12 months of school.
Raven Johnson takes her ultimate bow ✨
The 2-time nationwide champion leaves a long-lasting legacy at South Carolina ♥️ pic.twitter.com/Icwq8BhB9p
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 5, 2026
She took on the reins after the Aliyah Boston period and now finds herself teammates with the previous Gamecock on the skilled stage. After being chosen No. 10 general within the 2026 Draft by Indiana, Johnson finds herself in a novel state of affairs. It isn’t on daily basis a excessive draft choose is chosen by a championship-caliber workforce.
From one revered coach to a different, Stephanie White is coming into her third season as Indiana’s head coach. Named Coach of the 12 months in 2023, White was part of the Fever’s 2015 finals run as an assistant coach and led the Connecticut Solar to back-to-back semifinal appearances with a core that includes Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, and Brionna Jones.
“Oh, the usual is excessive,” stated Johnson on being drafted to the Fever. “I imply, coming from a program like South Carolina, the usual was excessive there, however coming right here, I used to be like, that is like, me being at South Carolina, like, the usual is so excessive they need to win the nationwide championship.”
Johnson, Fever Constructed to Win
Indiana has been an integral a part of the WNBA for the latter a part of 27 seasons, and captured its first and solely championship in 2012. The group has housed previous legends akin to Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas and is now coming into a brand new period beneath Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Boston. From prime to backside, everyone seems to be dialed in on bringing a championship again to Indy. For Boston, it is all the time been a championship-or-bust mindset.
“I really like that this group shouldn’t be afraid to speak about what we need to accomplish.”@ACwishtv requested #Fever head coach Stephanie White concerning the workforce embracing championship expectations: pic.twitter.com/g8mKj61E13
— WISH-TV Information (@WISHNews8) April 22, 2026
This Fever workforce defied the chances final season, regardless of accidents, persevering in the same method Johnson did over a season-ending ACL throughout her freshman 12 months. Whereas Indiana fell simply in need of championship aspirations, they had been one recreation away from their first finals look since 2015. Actually, they pushed A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces to a semifinals Recreation 5 additional time thriller.
“I do know they had been speaking about final season. It was like little errors that they did to recover from that hump of profitable, going over the aces. They had been speaking about that within the locker room, and I used to be like, in my head, wow, it’s concerning the little issues the coach was speaking about—self-discipline, remembering little issues, rebounding, boxing out, issues like that. So I used to be like, wow, this seems like Coach Staley. She all the time talks about it—it is all the time concerning the little issues and particulars to win a championship.”
Johnson Eyes Championship with Fever
The Fever guard is buying and selling the Garnet and Black for the crimson, blue, and yellow, however the objective stays the identical. From the Gamecock loyal to the Fever trustworthy, Johnson recommended the fan base and in contrast Indiana’s excessive requirements to Staley’s. The Fever averaged 16,550 dwelling followers in 2025 and led the league in dwelling attendance in 2024, averaging 17,035.
South Carolina is without doubt one of the hottest school applications, attracting over 16,000 per recreation. Though they had been trounced by UCLA, the nationwide championship recreation drew 9.9 million viewers on ABC, the second-most-watched Ultimate 4 on ESPN.
I am excited. I heard the followers are loopy, like they promote out the world. I wish to see issues like that, particularly whenever you see a number of followers within the area. I imply, you need to, you need to play for them, as a result of they sacrifice a lot simply to return to video games. And you realize, generally they take off work. So it is like little issues like that. So I am excited to play on this area.
Johnson expressed her pleasure for this new chapter, crediting Caitlin Clark and others for his or her steering. Whereas each confronted one another in school, Johnson stays targeted on the longer term and letting go of the previous.
“We’re teammates now, and we’ve got one objective, and that is to win a championship,” stated Johnson on media day. “I am coming in, I need to win a championship too. And I am fairly certain that is her (Caitlin Clark) foremost objective too. So no matter I can do to assist win a championship.”
It is clear Johnson heads into the professionals dictating her personal narrative, managing stress higher, and counting on her religion. “Let go, let God” is her motto transferring ahead. As coaching camp kicks off, Johnson has referred to as the method “thrilling” and has relied on vets and established gamers to information her by means of a condensed rookie offseason.
“It is really very thrilling and really it is, it is enjoyable to be taught from the vets right here. They undoubtedly ensure that I get the performs…Like, geez, they run a number of performs, however Caitlin Clark, she was serving to me by means of all of the arduous occasions. She was serving to me, like, I used to be, like, what do I do right here? Or, like, what, the place ought to I minimize? Like, I used to be asking her a number of questions.”
A Dream Come True
Ballislife initially picked Johnson to be chosen within the prime ten in our mock draft, and Johnson did not have perception into which workforce would choose her. A dream come true, Johnson hardly believed she can be chosen as excessive as she was.
“I used to be nervous on the desk. I used to be like, I do not know what workforce is gonna choose me. However then my agent, she texted me earlier than Indiana, the choose was developing. Now, I used to be like, Oh, they could not choose me. And I used to be excited. I used to be like, tenth choose? Like, I used to be shocked. I used to be like, I am a tenth choose. Lots of people cannot say they are a tenth choose. So I used to be actually, like, shocked. I do not even know what was going by means of my head. I used to be identical to, wow, I am a tenth choose.”
It is all surreal for Johnson, as she’s taking part in her first-ever rookie camp. Preseason begins in three days, and the common season will begin in simply 17 days. With restricted time to be taught performs and a brand new system, Johnson is adjusting to taking part in alongside the ladies she beforehand watched. Embracing the second, it is a full pinch-me second for the guard.
“Day by day I get up, I would be like, I’m within the WNBA. Like, that is loopy. I am actually within the WNBA. I’ve an Indiana jersey on, and I am sporting quantity three, like, that is loopy to me. I really feel like I am dreaming, actually dreaming. Day by day I come to coaching camp, and I see Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham. I have a look at these women like, I watch these women in school. I am actually taking part in with these women. Like, it is loopy. Truthfully, it is like a surreal second.”
No. 3 is among the many top notch to reap the advantages from the newly signed historic CBA. She joins a Fever workforce that re-signed its core of Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull, Sophie Cunningham, and prolonged Boston to a historic $6.3 million deal beneath the brand new EPIC Provision. Set to affix a powerful Fever backcourt, Johnson landed within the lap of a workforce that is in win-now mode. Profitable sits on the middle of each Johnson and the Fever.
The Fever could have all 44 regular-season video games nationally televised and kick off the common season in opposition to the Dallas Wings on Might 9.
Sara Jane Gamelli is the Managing Editor and Senior Workers Author at Ballislife.com, in addition to Director of Ballislife Bets. Observe her on X at @SaraJGamelli.
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