Why Caitlin Clark Might Want to Apologize to Raven Johnson, Who the Fever Took No. 10 in the WNBA Draft

The 2026 WNBA draft was held Monday night with a number of teams making big moves they hope will set themselves up for possible championship runs.

The Indiana Fever are one of those teams, as they selected South Carolina point guard Raven Johnson at No. 10. But their title dreams might need to start with an apology from their star guard, Caitlin Clark.

Clark and Johnson have a little bit of history from their college days. During the 2023 NCAA tournament, Clark and Iowa beat Johnson and South Carolina, 77-73, in the Final Four. The result isn’t the cause for the apology, but it’s something Clark did to Johnson in the game that later had the Gamecocks star wanting to quit basketball.

Remembering when Caitlin Clark waved at Raven Johnson

Clark covered Johnson during the national semifinal game but she was often seen standing nowhere near her. Clark and the Hawkeyes didn’t think Johnson would be a problem from outside and kept leaving her wide open from beyond the arc. Johnson ended up shooting 5-of-11 and finished with 13 points.

The one moment that went viral was when Clark, who was in the paint, was seen waving at Johnson, who was standing absolutely wide open many feet away.

Johnson remembers that wave and said recently that the flack she caught from fans about it in the days and weeks after the game almost made her quit the sport.

“That’s one reason why I hate the internet now. I got bashed, I got bullied. I got called all these things that I wasn’t,” Johnson said on the I am Athlete podcast. “I wanted to quit basketball at that time and go in this little bubble of isolation and just be by myself. I just leaned on God, I had some wonderful teammates and they helped me find that light and it put some much fuel to the fire for me to go back for the next year and we went undefeated and met that team again and we beat them.”

You can see that moment in this interview with Johnson:

Talk about adding fuel to the fire…

In 2023 Raven Johnson went VIRAL for being waved off by Caitlin Clark at the 3 point line 🤯

Raven told us how that moment came full circle 😤‼️ pic.twitter.com/HFCMaNnOlp
— I AM ATHLETE (@IAMATHLETEpod) March 28, 2026

How Raven Johnson fared in college after that wave from Caitlin Clark

As Johnson said, she bounced back from that tough game by helping lead South Carolina to an undefeated season the next year. The Gamecocks went 38-0 and finished the season by getting revenge on Clark and the Hawkeyes with an 87-75 victory in the national title game. That was Clark’s final game in college.

Johnson had her best year this past season as she averaged 9.9 points and 5.1 assists a contest in helping lead the Gamecocks to the second national title of her college career.

What Raven Johnson had to say after being drafted by the Fever

Johnson is looking forward to now being teammates with Clark in Indiana. After being picked by the Fever on Monday night she said she can’t wait to learn from her and her other new teammates.

"Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell... I think I'll learn a lot from them,” Johnson said. “I'm gonna be a sponge. I'm probably gonna be a gnat too because I'm gonna ask them a lot of questions. I’m probably going to get on their nerves, too, because of my personality. I like to joke a little bit. But honesty they win, they like to win and I think that’s really big when looking at a program like that. Like I said, they have a chance of winning the WNBA [title] so I’m happy about that.”

Raven Johnson on joining the Indiana Fever:

"Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell... I think I'll learn a lot from them. I'm gonna be a sponge. I'm probably gonna be a gnat too 'cause I'm gonna ask them a lot of questions!"@GamecockWBB | @wachfox pic.twitter.com/3BkFfk48q4
— Matt Dowell (@MattDowellTV) April 14, 2026

But yeah, Clark still might want to apologize for that moment from the Final Four.

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