Things have changed quite a lot for the Indiana Fever since they drafted Aliyah Boston with the first overall pick in the 2023 Draft. The Fever are now one of the more competitive teams in the league. Boston and fellow top draft pick Caitlin Clark worked well together and led the Fever to their first playoff appearance since 2017.
After that success, the Fever made all the right moves, re-signing Kelsey Mitchell and bringing in several impactful veterans like DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard. Those players add championship experience, veteran leadership, defense, and high-level offense to the roster. All of those are skills the Fever need to reach the next level. However, the new roster construction will also mean a lot of changes for the Fever’s younger players.
Not only are Clark and Boston under immense pressure to perform and help the team win, but the dynamics on the court will also change. Aliyah Boston needs to do one thing to be her best self in this new situation.
Aliyah Boston needs to be assertive every game
Now that the Fever have proven veterans with championship experience on the roster, it would be easy for Boston to decide that she will take a backseat and let the veterans do their thing. That is not what the Fever want from her, though. Adding veterans to the roster strengthened the team but did not change the fact that Boston and Clark are the foundation of everything the Fever are doing.
Bonner, Howard, and most other additions the Fever made are in Indiana to help the team win right now. Boston’s impact on the franchise goes way beyond that, and she must continue developing while the Fever try to win at the highest level.
So, the Fever will need Boston to be active and assertive every game in the 2025 season. She needs to look for her shot on offense, even if the Fever now have more players who will be involved in the offense at a high level, and act as a strong presence defensively.
The Fever are a strong team now, but there are plenty of those in the WNBA. The New York Liberty, the Minnesota Lynx, the Las Vegas Aces, and the Phoenix Mercury are also well set up to compete at the highest level and beat the new-look Fever. Most of those teams have talented bigs—A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Jonquel Jones, and Alyssa Thomas are some of the best players in the WNBA. With that kind of competition, the Fever cannot afford for Boston to be passive.