INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever rookie Raven Johnson said she was “anxious” to see the crowd ahead of her first game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday. The former South Carolina guard gave her new home fanbase much to cheer for in the Fever’s 95-80 loss to the Dallas Wings.
In a game where the Wings shot 51% from the field, Johnson was a bright spot for the Fever on defense. Johnson had five steals to go along with three points and five assists.
Johnson entered the game with 6:02 remaining in the first quarter and recorded an assist in 40 seconds. Wings guard Alysha Clark stole Johnson’s pass attempt to Fever forward Makayla Timpson with 3:46 left in the opening period. Clark tried to advance the ball quickly, but the 2026 SEC Defensive Player of the Year intercepted Clark’s pass and dished the ball to Timpson for an uncontested layup. Coach Stephanie White praised Johnson’s effort on the play after the game.
“(Raven) is going to be a spark off the bench,” White said. “It’s going to ebb and flow throughout the course of the season as it does with a lot of rookies, but we know she is going to bring it on the defensive end. We gotta find minutes for her in a good rotation.”
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Johnson was one of four Fever players with three turnovers Thursday. The point-of-attack defender doesn’t expect to be flawless in her first season, and Johnson won’t beat herself up when she does make an error. But the Atlanta native doesn’t want to make the same mistake twice.
To achieve her goal, she has become a ”sponge,” often asking star guard Caitlin Clark for advice. Clark understands the difficulty of learning terminology as a rookie and credited Johnson for asking “great questions.”
“Learning all the plays, like one day they threw 10 plays at me, and I was asking Caitlin, ’Was it like this your rookie year? Like, was it hard?’” Johnson said when asked about the biggest wake-up call since joining the Fever. “I know I’ll probably make mistakes sometimes, but that’s OK. Just play through the mistakes.
”But I want to be better defensively and try to get my teammates extra possessions. Try to give them open shots, just reading the defense and playing off my scheme. Just try to be smart, like a high-IQ player, but try to be the best rookie I could be.“
A looming concern among fans and media this season was whether Johnson and Clark would get along. Johnson, then part of South Carolina’s undefeated team looking to repeat as national champions, played Iowa and Clark in the 2023 Final Four. In the first quarter of the game, Clark waved off Johnson, who was wide open at the 3-point line, opting to guard her teammates in the paint instead.
Johnson said she put the incident “in the past,” and is focused on winning a championship alongside Clark. Johnson has found a mentor in Clark, whom she called a “goofy” and “great” person with “so much personality.”
“She helps me through every little thing. I could ask a question and she has an answer for me, so playing with somebody like her, it means a lot to me,” Johnson said. “But she also has that sense of humor where she makes me laugh too, and I’m like, ‘Caitlin, where did that come from?’ So it’s little things like that. But I’m also funny, so that’s where we match together.”
Johnson hasn’t been ashamed to show her personality since joining the Fever. She admitted she was nervous before her first preseason game against the New York Liberty on Saturday and to being starstruck when playing against three-time WNBA champion Breanna Stewart. Johnson scored six points on 3-for-3 shooting from the field and registered three rebounds, eight assists and two blocks against the Liberty.
It’s rare not to see Johnson with a smile on her face, even as life moves at a rapid pace for the 23-year-old. She featured in her fifth Final Four in just as many years in a championship game loss to UCLA on April 5. The Fever selected her 10th overall in the 2026 WNBA Draft eight days later. Now her focus turns to helping the Fever capture their second WNBA title.
Johnson said it’s been “mentally hard” going from college to the WNBA in such a short time, but credited the Fever for preparing her physically for the 44-game regular season.
“You honestly gotta fight fatigue with fatigue, and just trust your teammates, trust what the coaches have for you, and just believe in yourself. But physically, my body’s beat up. But the staff they have here, they’re taking really good care of me,” Johnson said. “They make sure I get in the ice tub, which I totally hate. I never got in the ice tub like that until I got here. I get in the ice tub literally every day, and it’s crazy. I was like, ‘This is what pros do? They get in the ice tub every day?’ And they be in there for like 10, 15 minutes. In college, I would never.”
Johnson is still getting used to the professional life. As the season progresses, so will her understanding of how life operates in the WNBA. There’s grace. She knows it. White knows it. And so do her teammates. Although they are lessons to be learned, the franchise star sees an impact player in Johnson.
“(Raven) is picking up 94 feet every single time. She’s bringing the energy every single time she’s in and her continuing to do that will be huge for us,” Clark said.
Joshua Heron is an enterprise and Fever reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @HeronReports. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Fever rookie ‘bringing the energy’ as a menace on defense, and has a mentor in Caitlin Clark
Reporting by Joshua Heron, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
