The Indiana Fever selected Raven Johnson with the 10th overall pick in the first round of the 2026 WNBA draft. Since draft day, the pairing of the South Carolina Gamecocks guard with Caitlin Clark has made a lot of noise. In a recent conversation, the franchise’s general manager lined up the team’s true vision and talked about Johnson’s place in the team.
A backup point guard has been an issue for management since Clark went out of the roster for an entire season, and the position fell to the team’s role players. In that view, the team decided to draft Johnson in the recent draft. In a conversation with IndyStarTV: Fever, Cox talked about the team’s views on Johnson’s position and said:
“10th pick in an interesting spot in the draft… I didn’t expect Raven to be there. She was someone I kind of had in that 4-5-6 range. I think a point guard like her that can come in and run the team with great leadership, a great competitive drive, obviously on the defensive end of the floor, is really, really elite already. And then you see how her game has grown, shot almost 30% from three point this year. We just really loved everything about her.”
Cox said that it was obvious, given that Johnson was available at the 10th pick, that they wanted to pick her in the draft. She also said that the team has picked Tyasha Harris to assist the point guard position along with Clark, which will give Johnson time to grow in her rookie year.
Caitlin Clark criticized for not addressing Raven Johnson joining the Fever
The Caitlin Clark and Raven Johnson duo has been controversial since draft day. During their college days, Clark waved off Johnson while in a Final Four game in March Madness, highlighting her poor 3-point percentage of less than 25% in the 2023 season. Johnson blamed Clark for the incident and claimed she was subjected to backlash due to that.
Johnson said:
“I got bashed, I got bullied. I got called all these things that I wasn’t. I wanted to quit basketball at that time and go in this little bubble of isolation and just be by myself.”
Meanwhile, Clark has not addressed Raven Johnson joining the Fever for next season anywhere on social media. Notably, she often posts tribute posts to her teammates and has been active in free agency, too.
The Fever seemed to have taken calculated decisions during free agency and acquired some crucial pieces before the next season. They seem like solid title contenders led by Aliyah Boston, who was handed the max contract by the franchise, and Clark.
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