As Edwin covered<\/a>, the buzz out of Fever training camp is off-ball Caitlin, with Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White indicating that preserving Clark\u2019s energy by having her operate without the ball more frequently will be a priority. Raven Johnson, whom the Fever drafted No. 11 overall, stands as one of the Indiana players who can alleviate Clark of on-ball responsibilities.<\/p>\nHowever, talk of a ball-dominant player being weaponized without the ball in their hands is standard fare from WNBA (and NBA) training camps. Such egalitarian ideas often fade during the regular-season grind.<\/p>\n
So while Johnson likely will have the opportunity to serve as Indiana\u2019s primary ball handler, she will also have to function without the ball. That means she has to be a real threat from 3.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s development of her 3-ball elevated her into the first round of the 2026 WNBA Draft. After shooting below 30 percent from 3 as a junior, Johnson drained almost 40 percent of her 2.6 3s per game as a senior at South Carolina. Just as important as her improved percentage was her increased confidence, as Johnson no longer hesitated to take open triples.<\/p>\n
Still, Raven\u2019s improved sample size is small, as she attempted 103 total 3s as a senior.<\/p>\n
Was the improvement an outlier hot streak, or was it real? And if was real, was it real enough?<\/p>\n
Until she consistently punishes them, WNBA opponents are unlikely to closely guard Johnson when she\u2019s behind the arc. And if she does drain the 3s she\u2019s conceded, proving she needs to be guarded, Johnson then invites another challenge: When guarded more attentively, can she still get her shot off? Johnson, who doesn\u2019t have the fastest release, primarily saw open opportunities in college. To be a threatening shooter in the W, she likely needs to quicken her release and become more comfortable shooting over late contests.<\/p>\n
The emphasis on Johnson\u2019s shooting is so pertinent because, on the other end of the floor, there\u2019s no question that she can be a value add for the Fever. A lockdown perimeter defender who is strong enough to hold up in the post, Raven\u2019s a defensive dream in the modern WNBA.<\/p>\n
More likely than not, she\u2019s going to have to be a legit threat from 3 in order to have extended opportunities to demonstrate her All-Defense-caliber potential.<\/p>\n
Olivia Miles (Minnesota Lynx): How will the backcourt dynamic work with Courtney Williams?<\/p>\n
When the Lynx drafted Olivia Miles No. 2 overall, it was easy to assume that Minnesota was willing to empower Miles as the team\u2019s primary point guard, shifting Courtney Williams back into the secondary ball-handler role she occupied in her prior WNBA stops.<\/p>\n
The Lynx, however, have instead insisted that Williams remains PG 1, with head coach Cheryl Reeve emphasizing that the team wants to keep Williams \u201cin her playmaking phase.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reeve, of course, likewise recognizes Miles\u2019 elite on-ball potential, referencing her \u201cgenerational skill\u201d as a passer, playmaker, point guard and leader on draft night. Reeve also called Miles Minnesota\u2019s first real point guard since now-assistant coach Lindsey Whalen was running the show.<\/p>\n
The head coach\u2019s comments are a bit contradictory, although not totally oppositional.<\/p>\n
Having Miles play alongside a veteran ball handler in Williams should ease her transition to WNBA, and the two have expressed nothing but enthusiasm about the opportunity to play together.<\/p>\n
There shouldn\u2019t be any real worry about conflict or incompatibility. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the dynamic between the duo develops.<\/p>\n
A quick juxtaposition between of Miles\u2019 final season at Notre Dame, when she shared ballhandling duties with Hannah Hidalgo, and her lone season at TCU, where she almost exclusively was at the controls, suggests Miles is more comfortable in the latter situation.<\/p>\n
And as discussed with Johnson above, Miles\u2019 viability as an off-the-ball 3-point threat is uncertain, as she likewise vastly improved from deep over the course of her college career, although Miles\u2019 greater volume inspires more confidence in the sustainability of her numbers. Although she has had to be urged to embrace her 3-ball, Williams has enjoyed her best 3-point shooting seasons when she more frequently fires away; last year, she took at career-high 3.4 3s per game and made almost 39 percent of them.<\/p>\n
The bigger concern for Miles, in contrast to Johnson, comes on the other end of the floor, as her defensive engagement was the only glaring red flag on her scouting report. Reeve has track record of demanding, but also developing, strong defensive play. Unfortunately for Miles, she will not begin her WNBA career with two of the last three Defensive Players of the Year\u2014the injured Napheesa Collier and the departed Alanna Smith\u2014behind her to make up for any miscues.<\/p>\n
Flau\u2019jae Johnson (Seattle Storm): Can she cause the Valkyries instant regret?<\/p>\n
Is a Category 4 Storm incoming, one that could make the draft night deal between the Storm and Valkyries, when Golden State exchanged the No. 8 pick for two second-round picks, become even more inexplicable?<\/p>\n
In a fun twist of fate, Flau\u2019jae Johnson will make her WNBA preseason debut against the team that traded her away.<\/p>\n
Johnson, certainly, should not be defined by the trade.<\/p>\n
It also seems unlikely she\u2019ll enter the game intending to prove a point.<\/p>\n
As she has excitedly embraced her opportunity in Seattle, Flau\u2019jae surely will be hoping to thrill Storm fans, not inspire regret among Valkyrie supporters. Yet, if Storm fans are cheering, Valkyrie fans are likely to be sneering, directing ire at a front office that passed on the player with, arguably, the most superstar upside in the draft.<\/p>\n
It will be interesting to see how new head coach Sonia Raman puts Johnson in a position to succeed.<\/p>\n
As Johnson\u2019s college head coach, LSU\u2019s Kim Mulkey, is not known for the most inventive or modern offensive strategies, seeing Johnson inserted into an offensive environment where her talents are better maximized could help her ascend to a new level of play that the Valkyries, presumably, did not think she possessed.<\/p>\n
All that is not going to come together in the first preseason game, but Johnson can provide glimpses of what\u2019s to come. Acrobatic drives to the basket? A pull-up 3? A couple of steals? A lob to Dominque Malonga for a dunk?<\/p>\n
Johnson, in fact, might have Chase Center cheering for her anyways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 WNBA season officially-but-unofficially is here, with five preseason games scheduled for Saturday, April 25. The action…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-627717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}