{"id":869425,"date":"2026-10-03T13:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T13:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/869425\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T13:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T13:58:25","slug":"dawn-staley-calls-out-indianapolis-star-reporter-if-you-only-knew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/869425\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawn Staley calls out Indianapolis Star reporter: ‘If you only knew’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana Fever guard Raven Johnson and forward Myisha Hines-Allen went viral for their media availability<\/a> before losing Game 3 to the Las Vegas Aces, ending their season on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Johnson, the Fever\u2019s 2026 No. 10 overall pick out of South Carolina, asked Hines-Allen, \u201cWhat was the chaos?\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was seemingly referring to Hines-Allen shoving A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a> in the first quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday, though neither Johnson nor Hines-Allen mentioned Wilson directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just a rage-baiter. That\u2019s all I am,\u201d Hines-Allen said. Johnson added, \u201cAnd you do it with such a smile on your face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian \u201cHank\u201d Haenchen wrote an article about it for\u00a0The Indianapolis Star<\/a>, and South Carolina head women\u2019s basketball coach Dawn Staley<\/a> took issue with Haenchen\u2019s tweet promoting his article on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote about the Raven Johnson and Myisha Hines-Allen media sesh Thursday that apparently got the rookie a talking to from Dawn Staley,\u201d Haenchen wrote<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t understand what the issue was. It was fun, lighthearted and largely nondescript.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staley reposted it, writing, \u201cIf you only knew\u2026.or thought outside of your box. Furthermore if you\u2019d just asked before assuming or reporting there might be some truth to your article but I\u2019ll let you carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you only knew\u2026.or thought outside of your box. Furthermore if you\u2019d just asked before assuming or reporting there might be some truth to your article but I\u2019ll let you carry on. https:\/\/t.co\/s3m0XzSnUa<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) October 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHi! Not sure if you read the story, but it was written yesterday following shootaround,\u201d Haenchen replied to Staley<\/a>. \u201cThat part of tweet you referenced was poorly worded and I apologize \u2014 I clarified in a reply. But no, not a clickbait story. Just a fun pregame report.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the original media availability in question, Johnson apologized Friday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely apologize for the comments I made during the video with MHA,\u201d Johnson tweeted<\/a>. \u201cWhat I said was wrong, and I take full responsibility for my words. I have nothing but love and respect for my big sister 4 life A\u2019ja, and I truly wish her nothing but the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRay Ray I love you for life,\u201d Staley posted<\/a> in response to Johnson\u2019s apology. \u201cYou are a young talent that\u2019s owning this moment. You did something in public and decided to apologize in public no matter who agrees or disagrees. Always remember your @GamecockWBB sisters will have love for you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Staley coached Johnson at South Carolina for five years, winning two national championships together. Wilson, the Aces\u2019 2018 No. 1 pick, also played and won a national title under Staley at South Carolina.<\/p>\n

The Aces and Fever produced several headlines<\/a> throughout this WNBA season, and by comparison, Johnson\u2019s comments barely register on the sports media Richter scale.<\/p>\n

In this first-round playoff series alone, Wilson had a heated verbal confrontation<\/a> with a Fever fan, which the Prime Video broadcast addressed<\/a>. After the Aces eliminated the Fever, head coach Becky Hammon made a savage assessment<\/a>\u00a0for all of Indiana to stew on until next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever guard Raven Johnson and forward Myisha Hines-Allen went viral for their media availability before losing Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2083,2839,334661,72670,99,366529,434],"class_list":["post-869425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-dawn-staley","tag-indiana-fever","tag-indianapolis-star","tag-raven-johnson","tag-sports","tag-the-indianapolis-star","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}