The Indiana Fever might be the most exciting 5-15 team in quite some time and that’s largely because of their promising first-year players.
Indiana’s selections of Aliyah Boston and Grace Berger in the first round of the 2023 WNBA Draft created some hype around the team, which has been a perennial bottom feeder since 2016 and was coming off a franchise-worst 5-31 season last year — matching the record for most losses in a season, joining the 2011 Tulsa Shock in infamy.
But, Boston has provided a glimmer of hope for the franchise that has been looking for a consistent cornerstone since the retirement of Tamika Catchings in 2016. Berger has also flashed at times, while her role has steadily evolved over the season (albeit, a bit too slow) as she gets acclimated to the professional level.
Boston elevated herself as one of the best players in college basketball across her four seasons at South Carolina, in which she netted four consensus All-American nods and a national title in 2021-22. Hailing from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Boston has drawn comparisons to a fellow USVI native in Tim Duncan, which is rooted in their play styles and demeanor on the court. In fact, she worked out with Duncan prior to her junior season with the Gamecocks in 2021.
“Growing up in the islands, there aren’t a lot of people that made it to the NBA,” Boston told the Associated Press in 2021. “He was definitely someone I looked up to. To go work out with him in person was amazing.”
Like Duncan, Boston emerged as dominant all-round big while in college, and parlayed that collegiate success into a No. 1 overall selection in her respective draft. And it’s safe to say that the Fever aren’t regretting their decision.
Boston was named an All-Star starter as a rookie, an essentially unheard-of feat for any WNBA or NBA player. The player vote ranked Boston as the sixth-best frontcourt player in the league, as voted on by her peers, showing an astounding level of respect for her game despite being a veteran of only 20 games.
Thus far this season, Boston has posted averages of 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game while shooting an extremely efficient 61.0 percent from the field. She is a virtually unstoppable presence in the paint, which caused her to face constant double and triple-teams while with South Carolina. Now, she’s benefitting from professional spacing and has much more room to operate down low — not to mention, she’s probably facing more single-coverage looks than she has since before high school — and is absolutely taking advantage of it.
In fact, Boston’s 15.4 points per game would be her second-best scoring output during her South Carolina career, save for her incredible 2021-22 campaign in which she produced 16.8 points per contest. But I’m doing Boston’s true impact a disservice by writing about her scoring at length because she does so much else at a high level.
Boston is a consummate winner and teammate that is willing to sacrifice her own glory for the sake of the team. She’s brought that same attitude to Indiana, and the Fever have greatly improved on their dismal 2021-22 campaign because of her presence. Sure, they hold just a .250 winning percentage, but Indiana has clearly improved by the eye test’s standards and have been competitive in most games they’ve played.
I would also be remised if I didn’t mention Boston’s imposing defensive presence in the paint, where she tallies 1.4 blocks and 1.0 steals per game.
Boston is, quite clearly, a future star in this league that could one day reach Catchings’ level of success. Also, as I was writing this, Boston hit an absurd three-pointer at the buzzer to cap off a 26-4 (!!!) run and send the Fever to overtime against the New York Liberty — but the Fever fell in overtime 95-87 despite 23 points and nine rebounds from Boston.
Berger is already a beloved member of the squad despite playing a minimal role for the Fever, thanks to her four-year career at nearby Indiana University. And with the Fever trending further down the WNBA standings, Berger could potentially get more run down the stretch.
That’s not say Berger hasn’t, at the very least, deserved more minutes at this juncture of the season, because she certainly has, but Indiana has elected to slow play her development to this point.
She’s a point guard in every sense of the word, boasting terrific ball-handling and play-making abilities but is also a willing scorer and can do so virtually anywhere on the court. Berger forged one of the most devastating guard-big offensive duos in the nation alongside Mackenzie Holmes while at Indiana, and there is the potential that she can emulate that success with Boston at the WNBA level.
There are still plenty of areas in need of improvement from Berger, particularly as a defender and off-ball offensively, but it’s safe to say that she needs more minutes in order to improve at the rate that the Fever need her to.
And to be clear, when Berger has seen the floor for extended minutes, she’s largely delivered. Like Boston, Berger had a huge role in Indiana’s fourth-quarter comeback against the Liberty on Wednesday, showing that she can make a legitimate impact at this point in her professional career.
With Boston emerging immediately and Berger coming along, I could see them becoming a formidable duo that could potentially lead the Fever back to contention.
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