Many interesting storylines popped up on the 2026 WNBA Draft night, but none of them landed quite like this one: the Indiana Fever selected Raven Johnson with the 10th overall pick.
A two-time NCAA champion, Johnson is now Caitlin Clark’s new teammate, but the story is about what she recently revealed about what Clark once put her through.
What Raven Johnson Revealed About Caitlin Clark’s Viral Wave-Off
The story dates back to the 2023 Final Four. It was when Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes were playing against Johnson’s South Carolina Gamecocks.
During the first quarter, Johnson dribbled up to the 3-point line, and Clark had just waved her off. She didn’t even bother guarding her.
The message here was blunt: You’re not a threat from out there. Johnson was shooting 24.1% from the arc on the season, by the way. Clark knew it well, too.
But the moment just went viral, and what followed was something Johnson talked about quite recently.
“I was all over the internet,” she said on the “I Am Next” podcast. “That’s one reason I hate the internet now, because of that situation. I got bashed, I got bullied, I got called all these things that I wasn’t I don’t know. It was just things like that, and I just thought I wanted to quit basketball at that time. I wanted to go in this little bubble of isolation and just be by myself.”
“I got bashed, I got bullied… I wanted to quit basketball at that time.”
Raven Johnson contemplated quitting basketball after Caitlin Clark’s wave-off at the 3-point line went viral and she got a ton of hate. Now, they are teammates on the Indiana Fever. pic.twitter.com/XRLfj9OTMI
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) April 14, 2026
Of course, she did not quit and leaned on her faith and her teammates. Johnson reportedly spent significant time in the gym putting up shots that offseason.
It was this moment that drove her motivation levels.
Almost a year later, it was the same tournament but a different outcome: the 2024 national championship.
Clark scored 18 points in the first quarter alone before Dawn Staley switched Johnson onto her in the second quarter. This led to Clark scoring just 12 points on 5-of-20 shooting and committing 4 turnovers the rest of the way, as South Carolina clinched that title.
“I studied her moves, and I was ready. I had confidence this year. I was telling myself, last year was not going to happen again,” Johnson said later.
Now, Johnson heads to Indianapolis to join Clark. During her final season at South Carolina, she averaged 9.9 points, 5.1 assists, and 1.5 steals on 48.6% shooting and will now play alongside Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston (the same Boston who won a championship with her in 2022).
