Stephanie White Signals 'Cautious' Approach With Aliyah Boston Ahead of Fever-Wings
The Indiana Fever appear intent on avoiding a repeat of last season’s injury issues.
Fever coach Stephanie White previously outlined how the team plans to manage Caitlin Clark's workload in training camp and preseason following the litany of injuries the squad's star point guard suffered last season, and Indiana held two key players, Aliyah Boston and Lexie Hull, out of the preseason debut against the New York Liberty.
Now it appears the plan is to do the same for the second preseason game against the Dallas Wings Thursday from Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
White had this to say about their status (and that of guard Tyasha Harris who also didn't play vs New York).
"I don't know if we're going to play them tomorrow. I think we'll still probably be cautious with that. I think the goal is probably to get some of them minutes on Saturday, if we can. But still, we've got another week again from that game until our home opener," White said.
"We'll take it slow, we'll see how it goes. Every day they've been adding things that they've been doing in their return to play. There's no reason right now I don't think to rush it, so we'll make sure they're fully ready to go," she added.
Aliyah Boston Has Been Out Since End of Unrivaled Season
Ty Harris missed nearly all of last season following knee surgery, so she is clearly being worked back to action slowly. While White described what Hull is dealing with as just some hamstring "tightness". However, Boston missed the end of the Unrivaled season due to a right lower leg injury and hasn't been back on the court in game action since. The ailment caused her to miss the FIBA World Cup qualifiers in March.
Boston said she felt “good to go” at the start of training camp, but she has yet to return to game action, and the specific nature of her injury has never been revealed.
The indications from White and the Fever have been that players would be available if this were the regular season.
Of course, Boston is a centerpiece of what the Fever hope to accomplish this season. She looked to expand her game (which has already led to three All-Star appearances) this offseason, has innate chemistry with Clark, and is the team's anchor in the middle after all.
It's understandable that the Fever would go the cautious route considering what happened in 2025. Still, the Fever’s ceiling won’t fully come into focus until Boston returns to the floor at full strength.
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Robin Lundberg is a media veteran and hoops head who has spent the bulk of his career with iconic brands like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. His insights have also been featured on platforms such as Fox and CNN and he can currently be heard hosting shows for Sirius XM and on his popular YouTube channel. And now he brings his basketball expertise to Women's Fastbreak On SI and Indiana Fever On SI!
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