Raven Johnson Brings Curious Approach to Caitlin Clark, Fever Teammates
The Indiana Fever drew a lot of attention when they selected Raven Johnson with the No. 10 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
Johnson is coming off an extremely successful college career with the South Carolina Gamecocks. Playing under the legendary Dawn Staley, Johnson blossomed into arguably the best defender in all of college basketball, which should be an immediate asset for the Fever this season.
But the biggest reason why this draft decision drew attention is because of Johnson's history of competing against Caitlin Clark. Given that they've gone head-to-head in several high-stakes NCAA Tournament games in the past, and several moments between them have gone viral, there was some question about how they would mesh being on the same roster.
But comments Johnson made about playing with Clark after getting drafted made it clear that there's no bad blood between them, and their shared competitive spirit has bred a sense of mutual respect that should help both players continue to develop.
Now the two are at the Fever's training camp together, and Johnson appears to be using Clark as a source of information as she tries to acclimate herself to Indiana's system. This was shown by comments Johnson made when speaking with the media on April 20.
Johnson was asked whether it helps having several other South Carolina players (Aliyah Boston and Tyasha Harris) on the Fever's roster to help her ease into the transition of professional basketball, and said, "Yeah. It has helped. I think other people, too. Sophie Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, Lexie Hull, Kelsey Mitchell. They're all great people to be around," per a video from the Fever's YouTube account.
"They help me when I don't know things; they know the system really well. So I asked them a lot of questions yesterday. They probably got a little annoyed by me, but I did ask them a lot of questions yesterday." Johnson added with a smile.
Raven Johnson’s first fever practice media interview. Nice job rookie 😊 pic.twitter.com/PDswZRk8wM
— ericaf455 (@ericaf455) April 20, 2026
This curious and meticulous approach is one reason why Johnson has been so coachable throughout her career and why she became the elite defender that she was at South Carolina.
It's hard to imagine that Clark or anybody else would be annoyed about a rookie asking questions, as they've all been at that point in their careers before. Johnson will likely get her bearings in the near future, which means that she might only annoy Clark when she's playing solid defense on her at future Fever practices.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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