South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston gets an Indiana welcome worthy of No. 1 WNBA pick
The Saturday flight to Indianapolis? Real.
The hero’s welcome at Gate A23? Real.
The massive billboard towering over the highway, welcoming her to “Basketball Country” as the first No. 1 overall WNBA Draft pick in Indiana Fever franchise history? Very real.
Each moment was further confirmation to former South Carolina women’s basketball standout Aliyah Boston that the next chapter of her life was officially underway: She’s a pro now.
“When they were done, I called my mom and I was like, ‘Mom, it’s real,’ ” Boston said. “Like, I’m here. I’m starting this journey. But I’m just super excited. It’s real now.”
Boston spoke Monday as part of her formal introductory news conference with the Fever, who rolled out the red carpet at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the college superstar they see as two-way star and cornerstone for a franchise in the middle of a significant reset.
“It’s all the things that she brings for us,” first-year Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “The intangibles. She’s just a leader. She’s a solid human being. She’s a competitor, and she makes people around her better. And that’s what’s exciting about having her here.”
Boston, as well the rest of the WNBA’s 2023 draftees, are working on a tight turnaround. The league held its draft April 10. Training camp starts April 30, preseason games start May 5 and the regular season starts May 19 — just 25 days from Monday.
That, of course, comes on the heels of Boston completing her fourth and final season with South Carolina, which set a school record with 36 wins in 2022-23 but fell two wins short of an undefeated perfect season by losing to Iowa in the Final Four on March 31.
It also comes with the sky-high expectations that a No. 1 overall pick of Boston’s stature demands. But Boston, a 2022 national champion, three-time All-American and four-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year for coach Dawn Staley, said she’s embracing the challenge.
“I don’t think, my freshman year in South Carolina, I was really nervous,” Boston said. “I think it was more just super excited to be here and be in that new space. That’s kind of the mindset that I’m taking into being here with the Fever.”
How Boston fits in the WNBA
Boston, who never missed a game in her South Carolina career, went 129-9 in four seasons with the Gamecocks while winning three SEC regular season and tournament championships apiece, appearing in three consecutive Final Fours — without the COVID pandemic, it quite likely would’ve been four — and sweeping the national player of the year awards in 2022.
Indiana trusts Boston will bring those winning ways to an organization that’s fallen down on its luck. The Fever was one of the league’s most consistent winners for over a decade and at one point made 12 straight postseasons — culminating with three WNBA Finals appearances and a 2012 championship win on the shoulders of Hall of Fame forward Tamika Catchings.
But they haven’t made the playoffs in six years and haven’t won a playoff game in seven years. Last year, they fired longtime coach Marianne Stanley nine games into the season and finished 5-31, which tied the 2011 Tulsa Shock for the most single-season losses in league history.
Indiana’s 2023 training camp roster will include players such as 2018 No. 2 overall pick Kelsey Mitchell (18.4 ppg), 2022 No. 2 overall pick NaLyssa Smith (13.5 ppg) and 2023 No. 7 overall pick Grace Berger of Indiana, who got drafted six spots behind Boston.
Boston will also get a callback to her Columbia days, as two former South Carolina teammates — guard Destanni Henderson, a 2022 second-round pick, and forward Victaria Saxton, a 2023 third-round pick — are on the Fever’s roster.
“It’s a young group, but I think we’re all competitors,” Boston said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. I don’t think anyone is going to back down from a challenge.”
Sides, hired last November as the Fever’s coach after stints as a WNBA assistant and the head coach at Louisiana Monroe, said Boston’s communication, defense and rebounding will be immediate strengths at the next level.
She’s also excited to see how Boston’s offensive game flourishes in a league that relies heavily on pick-and-roll style offenses — and, since 2013, has kept the area under the basket far clearer for offensive players by whistling defenders for three-second violations like the NBA does.
College women’s basketball doesn’t have a three-second violation, which allowed South Carolina’s opponents to double-team and sometimes triple-team Boston in the paint. That, as well as the top-to-bottom depth of USC’s roster, were main culprits in Boston last season averaging her fewest points and shot attempts per game since her freshman year.
“Just excited to watch her work in some space and see what’s in her bag and what kind of moves that she has that she hasn’t been able to utilize up until this time,” Sides said.
Indiana Fever schedule
Indiana has two preseason games May 7 and 13 and tips off the regular season Friday May 19 at home against the Connecticut Sun. The Fever will play closest to South Carolina when they travel to face the Atlanta Dream on Sunday, May 28.
WNBA rookie salary
As the No. 1 pick in the draft, Boston will make $74,305 in base salary in 2022-23, according to the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and WNBA Players Association.
Under the league’s 2023 rookie pay scale, Boston’s salary will jump to $75,792 in the second year of her contract and $83,371 in her third. The Fever can pick up a fourth-year option for Boston a base salary of $94,470 in 2026.
This story was originally published April 24, 2023 at 4:52 PM with the headline "South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston gets an Indiana welcome worthy of No. 1 WNBA pick."
