The Fever's season ended on October 1st. Thirteen days later, Aliyah Boston was in surgery. And weirdly, that's the most reassuring thing I've read all offseason. Explain that one, Cera. I will. This is the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast, I'm Cera, Joey's here, and it's Monday, October 19th. Since Wednesday's show: Boston's knee, an All-Defensive ballot without a single Fever name on it, a trade pitch for Ariel Atkins, and a rookie who might already be part of the answer.
Bryan Colbert Jr., writing for Newsweek:
Four-time All-Star Aliyah Boston underwent successful surgery Wednesday to repair the lateral meniscus in her right knee, the organization announced Thursday. The procedure comes just two weeks after Indiana's season ended with a playoff loss to the Las Vegas Aces.
So here's the reassuring part. All year we got "lower leg." That's it. Now we find out it was a knee that needed a scope, and she still gave Vegas nineteen and ten with two blocks in the elimination game. Let's stick to what the team said. Right knee arthroscopy, performed by Dr. Corey Kendall at OrthoIndy, and rehab starts under the Fever's medical and performance staff. The AP adds that updates will come as they're available. What nobody gave us is a timetable, or any word on whether it touches the start of 2027. Grant Young at SI traces it back a long way. She missed the end of Unrivaled with an undisclosed lower-leg injury, missed the World Cup qualifying tournament in March, then sat out the second half of a May 15th game against Washington. And people were on her for disappearing against the Aces. Young's read is that she played through it for most of the season. That's his inference. Newsweek notes the Fever haven't said whether this connects to the hard fall against Seattle in July. And the production held: 16.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, a career-best 40.6 percent from three, then 19.7 a game in the playoffs, per the AP. And Clark reposted the announcement Thursday with three hearts and "comeback gonna go crazy." I mean. Yeah. Here's the roster angle. Amber Cox already put frontcourt depth behind Boston on her list. Surgery with no return date turns that from a want into a need. She's signed through 2029, so the cornerstone isn't going anywhere. The question is who takes on her minutes if the rehab runs long.
Robin Lundberg, writing for Sports Illustrated:
The WNBA announced the All-Defensive Teams on Thursday, and there was a common theme. 6 of the 10 players who made first or second team are on the Golden State Valkyries or Atlanta Dream, who of course are playing in the WNBA Finals.
Zero Fever. Not one. Six of ten from the two Finals teams, and we're not even in the conversation. Nobody should be shocked. Lundberg has Indiana last among playoff teams in defensive rating, with Golden State first and Atlanta third. The two best defenses are the two teams still playing. What I like is he splits the blame. Some of it's personnel, some of it's scheme. He says there were stretches where they looked lost on rotations and assignments, and that has to get fixed by the coaching staff, whether that's Stephanie White or somebody else. A pointed way to put it while White's status is still open. On personnel, he's blunt. Lexie Hull had a down year, Sophie Cunningham wasn't a stalwart, so not much resistance on the wing. And he doesn't think a Clark-Mitchell backcourt can be a shutdown pair, given Mitchell's size and how much scoring both of them carry. He does say Caitlin made strides as a defender this year. And his fix isn't only free agency. Look overseas, and develop internally: Raven Johnson as a three-and-D wing, Bree Hall, Makayla Timpson's wingspan up front. Hold onto the Johnson name, we'll get back to her. The sharpest part is the cap logic. If Mitchell stays, her salary makes it harder to buy length. If she signs elsewhere, that money can go to defense. Either way, the hole is the same shape.
Jeremy Beren, writing in Sporting News about a Bleacher Report pitch from Eric Pincus:
Pincus proposes that the Fever would send forward Monique Billings, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick to the rebuilding Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Atkins and a second-round pick in the 2027 draft.
Ariel Atkins! All-Defense in each of her first five seasons, 2018 through 2022. That's literally the wing Lundberg was just describing. That's the résumé from four years ago. Beren is fair about the rest. A defensive rating of 110 or higher in each of the last two seasons, in Chicago and Los Angeles. A career-low 8.5 points this year. 28.2 percent from three. And she's 30. But Pincus's whole case is Caitlin fixes the shooting. Atkins hit 36.1 the year before with the Sky, and open looks from Clark could get her back there. Could. Then the money. Two years and two million left on her deal, while Indiana still has to pay Mitchell and negotiate Clark's max extension. Plus a first-round pick going out. Beren himself says the finances and the picks make it hard to rationalize. Moving Billings, I get. We went through her contract on Wednesday's show, sitting right at the four, the spot Cox wants upgraded. The first-rounder is what bugs me. A rookie deal is cheap, and cheap is what this cap needs. And to be clear, this is a columnist's proposal. Nobody's reporting talks with L.A. What it does show is how people outside the building frame Indiana's winter: buyers, shopping for a defender who can play guard or forward.
Now that Raven Johnson callback, from Athlon Sports:
The 23-year-old also made an impact in the Fever’s first-round playoff series against the Las Vegas Aces. Johnson averaged 7.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 20.7 minutes over three games against the Aces, including a 14-point explosion in Game 1.
Fourteen in Game 1! Twenty minutes a night in the playoffs after 10.9 in the regular season. The rookie got thrown in and didn't blink. The hook is small. The league posted its final Rookie Reels video, Johnson alongside Minnesota's Olivia Miles and Seattle's Awa Fam, and she shared it to her Instagram story. But the season line is worth a look: 39 games off the bench, 3.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists. She missed the All-Rookie team, and Miles took Rookie of the Year. Fine. She went tenth in the draft, she's a two-time NCAA champ, and she was the 2026 SEC Defensive Player of the Year. That's a defender by trade. Which is why she connects to Lundberg. A team with no All-Defensive names and a tight budget might already have part of the answer on its bench. The playoff minutes say the staff trusted her when it counted. The offseason question is whether she grows into the three-and-D wing he's describing. Cheaper than Ariel Atkins, I'll say that much.
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Tomorrow we'll be watching for any rehab timeline on Boston and for more noise around the wing market. The Finals roll on too, with Game 3 set for Wednesday in Atlanta. Every story is linked in the show notes. That's the Indiana Fever Daily Podcast, one of the Lantern Podcasts. Talk to you Tuesday.