Raven Johnson’s professional journey begins in Indiana, after the South Carolina point guard was selected 10th overall by the Indiana Fever on Monday night — becoming the 23rd Gamecock ever drafted into the WNBA.
A Reunion in the Making
The pick sets up a notable collection of connections for Johnson in Indianapolis. She will be reunited with former South Carolina teammate Aliyah Boston, and will also join Tyasha Harris — the Gamecock point guard who came before her and whom Johnson has spoken of as someone she looked up to in developing her own game. Rounding out the roster dynamic is Caitlin Clark, the marquee name Johnson faced on college basketball’s biggest stage on two separate Final Four occasions.
In the lead-up to the draft, Johnson also had the opportunity to spend time getting to know fellow invitee Flau’jae Johnson of LSU, with the two bonding during the days surrounding the event in New York.
A Career Built on Winning
Johnson arrived in New York alongside teammates Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot, all three projected first-round selections and all three invited to attend the draft in person — a reflection of just how deep South Carolina’s pipeline to the professional game runs.
Her collegiate resume is difficult to overstate. After suffering a torn ACL that limited her to just two games in her freshman season, Johnson missed only two more games across the remainder of her career. In the games she did play, her team went 145–9 — a winning percentage of .942.
She made the Final Four in all five of her seasons, appeared in three national championship games, and won two titles. Johnson also claimed five SEC regular-season championships and three SEC tournament titles.
By the time her college career concluded, she had recorded 612 career assists — third in program history — and 202 assists in her final season alone, ranking fourth all-time in a single season for the Gamecocks. She played in 154 games across her career, more than any non-COVID era player in program history.
As a senior, she averaged 9.9 points, 5.1 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game, earning All-American honors, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award, and the Sacramento Regional Most Outstanding Player distinction.
A New Era of WNBA Pay
Johnson enters the league at a transformative financial moment for the sport. The 2026 WNBA Draft is the first conducted under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement, which dramatically restructured rookie salaries.
Under the previous CBA, first-round picks earned roughly $78,000 annually, with second and third-round selections earning even less. Under the new agreement, every first-round pick is guaranteed a minimum of $289,133 as a rookie — a figure that exceeds last season’s supermax contracts.
As the 10th overall selection, Johnson is set to sign a four-year rookie contract valued at $1,294,367, beginning at $289,133 in year one and increasing incrementally through the life of the deal.
Johnson is the first of three expected Gamecock selections from the 2026 draft class, with Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot also projected to hear their names called Monday night.
