Fever Rookie Admits She Almost Quit Basketball After Game Against Caitlin Clark
Following a tremendous career playing for Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks, Raven Johnson was drafted No. 10 overall in Monday's WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.
The two-time national champion is coming off a senior season in which she averaged 9.9 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 48.6% from the field and 39% from deep. All of these marks were the best of her career, but there was almost a world where Johnson never improved her offense or was drafted to the WNBA.
In an interview with I AM ATHLETE last week, Johnson revealed that after a viral moment in 2023 during a Final Four loss, when Caitlin Clark opted not to guard her because of her then-inability to shoot, she almost quit basketball altogether.
When discussing the adversity she has faced, Johnson tabbed the moment as one that led to her being bullied, and even being racially attacked.
"That's the reason I hate the internet now," Johnson said. "Because of that situation. Like I got bashed, I got bullied, I got called all these things that I wasn't...AKA a monkey...It was just things like that. I wanted to quit basketball at that time, and I wanted to just go in this little bubble of isolation and just be by myself."
Johnson credited her faith and relationship with her teammates for being able to get her out of that dark place.
"I leaned on God, I had some wonderful teammates, wonderful people in my life like I said," Johnson explained. "And they helped me find that light, and they put so much fuel to the fire to me to go back the next year and we went undefeated and met that team (Iowa) again and we beat them."
While Clark likely meant no harm with the gesture and is now the face of the WNBA, her popularity has also brought plenty of trolls into the women's basketball space. Something that other players have dealt with as well, but something that could end up bringing Clark and Johnson closer once they get acquainted.
Related: Fever's First-Round Pick Addresses Learning From Caitlin Clark
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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 4:06 PM.