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 ladies’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 adorned gamers in Gamecock historical past, she earned two Nationwide Championships beneath Staley, was the 2026 SEC Defensive Participant of the Yr, and garnered AP All-American honors.
New threads, new quantity 🔥
No. 10 total decide Raven Johnson now in No. 3 for the @IndianaFever! pic.twitter.com/9cr4kK8pbP
— WNBA (@WNBA) April 22, 2026
Staley lengthy vouched for Johnson properly earlier than she was drafted.
„Raven Johnson is a winner,“ Staley informed 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 essentially the most out of all of the gamers that I’ve coached.
The purpose guard is understood for her defensive prowess, typically taking up the accountability of being an on-ball defender. She boasted a 138-71 document over 4 full seasons with the Gamecocks.
A Acquainted Championship Customary
It is not simply basketball-related. Johnson is a real level guard who possesses unimaginable court docket imaginative and prescient and IQ. She was even lauded for her offensive enchancment. In her remaining yr, she recorded a career-best 9.9 factors, 5.1 assists, capturing 48.6% from the sector and 39.8% from past the arc. In 40 video games, she tallied 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
Except for the stats, it is the intangibles that separate her from the remainder. Johnson is a winner, plain and easy. A pacesetter 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 Event Championships and 5 Last Fours.
She even gained three state titles at West Lake Excessive College, one among which got here with Ta’Niya Latson, who later transferred to South Carolina her senior yr of faculty.
Raven Johnson takes her remaining 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 total within the 2026 Draft by Indiana, Johnson finds herself in a novel state of affairs. It is not daily a excessive draft decide is chosen by a championship-caliber crew.
From one revered coach to a different, Stephanie White is getting into her third season as Indiana’s head coach. Named Coach of the Yr 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 similar to Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas and is now getting 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 in regards to the crew embracing championship expectations: pic.twitter.com/g8mKj61E13
— WISH-TV Information (@WISHNews8) April 22, 2026
This Fever crew defied the percentages final season, regardless of accidents, persevering in the same approach Johnson did over a season-ending ACL throughout her freshman yr. Whereas Indiana fell simply in need of championship aspirations, they have been one recreation away from their first finals look since 2015. In actual fact, they pushed A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces to a semifinals Sport 5 time beyond regulation thriller.
„I do know they have 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 have been speaking about that within the locker room, and I used to be like, in my head, wow, it’s in regards to 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 in regards to 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 purple, blue, and yellow, however the aim stays the identical. From the Gamecock loyal to the Fever devoted, Johnson counseled 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 likely one of the hottest faculty packages, attracting over 16,000 per recreation. Though they have been trounced by UCLA, the nationwide championship recreation drew 9.9 million viewers on ABC, the second-most-watched Last 4 on ESPN.
I am excited. I heard the followers are loopy, like they promote out the sector. I prefer to see issues like that, particularly whenever you see quite a lot 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 come back to video games. And you recognize, 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 steerage. Whereas each confronted one another in faculty, Johnson stays centered on the long run and letting go of the previous.
„We’re teammates now, and we have now one aim, 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 positive that is her (Caitlin Clark) most important aim 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 shifting 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 way of a condensed rookie offseason.
„It is truly very thrilling and really it is, it is enjoyable to be taught from the vets right here. They undoubtedly ensure I get the performs…Like, geez, they run quite a lot of performs, however Caitlin Clark, she was serving to me by way of all of the laborious 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 reduce? Like, I used to be asking her quite a lot 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 crew 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 crew is gonna decide me. However then my agent, she texted me earlier than Indiana, the decide was developing. Now, I used to be like, Oh, they could not decide me. And I used to be excited. I used to be like, tenth decide? Like, I used to be shocked. I used to be like, I am a tenth decide. Lots of people cannot say they seem to be a tenth decide. So I used to be truthfully, like, shocked. I do not even know what was going by way of my head. I used to be identical to, wow, I am a tenth decide.“
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 enjoying alongside the ladies she beforehand watched. Embracing the second, it is a full pinch-me second for the guard.
„Each day I get up, I might 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. Each day I come to coaching camp, and I see Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham. I have a look at these ladies like, I watch these ladies in faculty. I am actually enjoying with these ladies. Like, it is loopy. Actually, it is like a surreal second.“
No. 3 is among the many firstclass to reap the advantages from the newly signed historic CBA. She joins a Fever crew 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 crew that is in win-now mode. Profitable sits on the middle of each Johnson and the Fever.
The Fever can have all 44 regular-season video games nationally televised and kick off the common season towards 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.
