Tag: Aliyah Boston

Here’s what the AP voters absolutely got right and wrong for its 2023 WNBA awards

The AP WNBA awards are out and something don’t make sense.

The WNBA regular season slate ended Sunday, giving players and coaches one final opportunity to state their case for why they should be considered among the league’s best talent.

Following the end of the season, a 12-member media group from the Associated Press votes on awards such as Most Valuable Player (MVP), Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), Coach of the Year (COY), and more. These awards precede the league awards that will be announced during post-season play, with the coveted league MVP award announced on September 26.

Here’s what the AP voters absolutely got right and wrong for its 2023 WNBA awards:

Aliyah Boston setting WNBA records in her rookie season

Boston is proving herself as the No. 1 pick with a historic start to her professional career.

Everyone knew Aliyah Boston was good, but she is proving it time and again, this time at the professional level. Boston was drafted No. 1 overall in the 2023 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever.

“Aliyah is ready. She’s always ready. She’s such a pro already,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said.

“She’s just an incredible piece for us. I mean both as a player and as a person. She’s come in every day. She works hard every day. She looks to get better. She talks to her teammates, she talks to the vets a lot about what can I do? How can I get better? How can I do this better for Coach? She’s just an incredible piece for us.”

This was before a preseason game, but Boston has grown leaps and bounds in the first week of the regular season. And she is already setting records.

She’s the first player to start her WNBA career with three consecutive games of 10 points or more and 60% or better shooting from the field.

The Fever had their first win of the season, a 90-87 decision on Sunday against the Atlanta Dream. Boston is averaging 14.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists one steal and one block on 66.7% shooting from the field.

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Brittney Griner’s return and 5 other storylines to watch for the 2023 WNBA Season

Super teams are here in Las Vegas and New York, but what about Elena Delle Donne and the Mystics?

The WNBA is back.

Its 27th season tips off on Friday night with four games, two of which will be nationally televised. The New York Liberty and Washington Mystics face off at 7 p.m. EST on NBA TV, and the Phoenix Mercury square off with the Los Angeles Sparks on ESPN at 11 p.m. EST.

There are plenty of reasons to watch the WNBA this year and the league is hoping to capture the momentum from this year’s NCAA tournament, which set records for viewership.

This week has already been an eventful one for the WNBA, as it announced penalties from the results of its investigation into the Las Vegas Aces, which included a two-game suspension for coach Becky Hammon and the loss of a draft pick. Additionally, several high-profile players were cut in the last week, leading to another outcry for the league to add teams and expand its rosters.

Here are the storylines to pay attention to in the WNBA this season.

Fever’s Christie Sides: Aliyah Boston is an incredible piece for us

Boston recorded eight points and two rebounds in her first preseason game in a loss to the Sky.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley knew. She always knows.

Aliyah Boston is thriving in the WNBA and the head coach of her new team, the Indiana Fever, praised her ahead of their preseason opener on Sunday versus the Chicago Sky.

“Aliyah is ready. She’s always ready. She’s such a pro already,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “She’s young, but I was really excited for her to get to go home and go back to South Carolina and walk across that stage, and I think she told me there were like 14,000 people ahead of her. Like she had to wait on, which I was like, ‘What?’

“She’s just an incredible piece for us. I mean both as a player and as a person. She’s come in every day. She works hard every day. She looks to get better. She talks to her teammates, she talks to the vets a lot about what can I do? How can I get better? How can I do this better for Coach? She’s just an incredible piece for us.”

Boston started the preseason against the Sky. While the Fever lost, 81-56, she played almost 16 minutes and had eight points and two rebounds. Their last preseason game before the season commences is at home against the Dallas Wings on May 13. The season starts for the Fever on May 19 against the Connecticut Sun at home at 7 p.m. ET.

After the game, Boston spoke to the media about her style of play.

Just being physical and being available when my team needed me. Just trying to make sure that I’m posting up strong and taking my time and finishing around the rim.

Boston does have a strong style of play and the refs did penalize her a bit in the game. She walked away with three personal fouls and was tied for first for the highest number of fouls in the game for her team. Boston’s former South Carolina Gamecocks teammate, Destanni Henderson, also had three and so did Victoria Vivians.

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What can players like Aliyah Boston expect to make in the WNBA?

The league’s top players will be able to earn cash compensation in excess of $500,000, which triples the maximum compensation under the previous CBA.

The 2023 WNBA draft welcomed new players into the league, but not all will be playing for a team when the season rolls around. With only 144 roster spots in the league, holding onto a coveted spot is difficult. However, a few athletes, like No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston, will likely make a team and be in the starting lineup come the start of the season.

What can players like Boston expect to make in the league? The 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which runs through 2027, outlines the salaries and bonuses players can expect to make.

For the first round of the WNBA draft, there are 12 picks.

Picks 1-4 will make a base salary of $74,305 in their first year. Picks 5-8 will receive a base salary of $71,300 and picks 9-12 will receive $68,295.

The CBA also outlines bonuses and other ways to earn and receive monetary compensation as a WNBA player separate and apart from the base salary. WNBA champions can receive bonuses of $11,356 while individual players can earn bonuses for being on the All-WNBA Defensive team among other accolades.

Players are also able to receive revenue-sharing percentages from the league, along with group licensing percentages among other monetary and non-monetary benefits.

The new CBA reflected a 53% increase in total cash compensation for players, which consists of base salary, additional performance bonuses, prize pools for newly created in-season competitions and league and team marketing deals. The league’s top players will be able to earn cash compensation in excess of $500,000, which triples the maximum compensation under the previous CBA. Other top players will have an opportunity to earn between $200,000 and $300,000. Additionally, for the first time in WNBA history, the average cash compensation for players will be nearly $130,000.

These new rookies will enter into a different WNBA than previous classes with increased salaries, travel benefits and enhanced free agency. The expectation is that the league will continue to raise the bar for their athletes while the union continues to advocate and fight for positive changes for all 144 members of the WNBA.

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Aliyah Boston found a savvy way to get instant photos on the WNBA Draft orange carpet

Aliyah Boston found a savvy way to make sure she got as many photos as she could on the WNBA Draft orange carpet.

WNBA Draft prospect and former South Carolina standout Aliyah Boston didn’t want her orange carpet moment to go without a few good snapshots.

Rather than rely on official photos to get shots out quickly, Boston asked reporters on the red carpet if they’d be able to take some photos of her and some of her fellow athletes.

She also had interest in acquiring some of the photos that someone took of somebody taking the photos with her phone.

It’s a really savvy way of making sure you’ve got all the photos you need on such a major night for your career.

It’d be a special night for Boston, as she went first overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft to the Indiana Fever.

She’ll soon transition to her professional career, and she’ll have plenty of snapshots to remember this important night for the rest of her life. We call that a picture-perfect situation.

WNBA Draft Tracker: Grading every pick in the first round in 2023

Obviously, the Fever are set to get an A for taking Aliyah Boston.

It’s Draft Day for the WNBA.

The college season just ended, where we saw Angel Reese talk her talk as she led LSU to a national championship win over Caitlin Clark and Iowa. The women’s basketball calendar now turns to transfer portal season for college, and the draft and preseason for the pros.

Neither Reese or Clark are eligible for the draft this year – and we could even see them skip the draft next year too for a variety of reasons – but this class is still a star-studded one, headlined by South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, the consensus National Player of the Year in 2022. Joining her is Maryland’s Diamond Miller, Tennessee’s Jordan Horston, Stanford’s Haley Jones, and the nation’s leading scorer in Maddy Siegrist.

We’ll grade each pick in real time as they come in (and we’ll factor in trades when they’re reported), so keep refreshing this page to get our opinions on each of the first 12 selections.

Here are the grades:

15 players invited to attend the 2023 WNBA draft

While over 100 players declared for the WNBA draft, only 15 prospects were invited to attend the draft in person.

The 2023 WNBA draft will air live on ESPN starting at 7 p.m. ET on Monday. While over 100 players declared, only 15 prospects were invited to attend the draft in person in Spring Studios, located in the Tribeca section of New York.

South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston, Maryland guard Diamond Miller, Stanford guard/forward Haley Jones and Villanova forward Maddy Siegrist are among some of the top prospects invited to attend.

The other prospects who will be in attendance are forward Laeticia Amihere (South Carolina), guard Brea Beal (South Carolina), guard Grace Berger (Indiana), guard Zia Cooke (South Carolina), guard Jordan Horston (Tennessee), guard/forward Ashley Joens (Iowa State), forward Dorka Juhász (Connecticut), guard/forward Lou Lopez Sénéchal (Connecticut), guard Taylor Mikesell (Ohio State), guard Alexis Morris (LSU), and forward/center Stephanie Soares (Iowa State).

In preparation for the draft, ESPN2 will broadcast the WNBA Draft Preview Show on April 8 at 11:30 a.m. EDT and re-air it on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. EDT. LaChina Robinson will host the 30-minute special with analyst Rebecca Lobo.

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WNBA Draft Order: A look at where every team is picking in all 3 rounds of the draft

Here’s the full pick order for the WNBA Draft

The WNBA draft is just a few days away and things could not be more exciting for the league. On Monday, April 10, a whole bunch of lives will change.

Another potentially generational player in Aliyah Boston is entering the league along with the Indiana Fever expected to take her as the No. 1 overall pick.

The order of the draft has been set for months now after the lottery in the fall. We know the Fever are making the first pick, but where does everyone else come in? No worries. We’ve got you covered.

Here’s the full order of picks for the WNBA Draft.

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2023 WNBA Mock Draft: Who gets picked after Aliyah Boston, Diamond Miller?

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese aren’t eligible for the draft, but this year’s class is still loaded

The women’s college basketball season is over. LSU beat Iowa in a national title game watched by a record-breaking amount of people. Angel Reese rightfully talked her trash, taught a lot of folks a lesson about double standards, and rebuffed Jill Biden’s invitation to the White House.

So, the women’s basketball calendar turns. Now, everything in the college game is about the ever-revolving transfer portal, while the pro teams are getting ready for the 2023 WNBA Draft.

And no, the two players we talked about the most in the last week – Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark – aren’t eligible for the draft this year. We’ll get to enjoy them in college for at least another year.

But some of the game’s biggest stars are off to the WNBA, including 2022 National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston, the nation’s leading scorer in Maddy Siegrist, and electric Maryland guard Diamond Miller.

The draft is on Monday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Here’s For The Win’s mock draft to get you ready for one of the biggest nights in women’s basketball.