Dawn Staley rips into reporter for pushing Raven Johnson-A’ja Wilson drama

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Matthew Couden

By Matthew Couden

Contributing Writer

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Retired WNBA star and current South Carolina coach Dawn Staley fired back at a reporter's tweet in which he mentioned Staley reprimanding her former player, Raven Johnson, now a rookie with the Indiana Fever.

The initial controversy stemmed from a video featuring Johnson and her teammate, Myisha Hines-Allen, as they spoke to the media before Game 3 of the Fever's WNBA playoff series against the Aces. In the video, Hines-Allen seemingly joked about a particularly physical play involving Wilson.

After being called for a foul in the first quarter, Hines-Allen gave Wilson a shove. In the video, which doesn't mention Wilson by name, Johnson asked her teammate what caused all the "chaos," and Hines-Allen indicated that it was because she was a "rage-baiter."

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"You do it with such a smile," Johnson responded before laughing about it.

Indiana then lost Game 3 in Las Vegas after that video, 94-83, ending its playoff run. However, the controversy continued afterward, including Staley calling out a reporter's tweet about her involvement with Johnson over the viral video.

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Indianapolis Star's Brian Haenchen wrote an article covering Johnson and Hines-Allen's Thursday "media sesh," indicating that it "apparently got the rookie a talking to from Dawn Staley."

"I don't understand what the issue was. It was fun lighthearted and largely nondescript," Haenchen said in his tweet promoting the article link.

That prompted Staley to fire back on X, reposting Haenchen's article tweet with a message about it.

"If you only knew….or thought outside of your box. Furthermore if you’d just asked before assuming or reporting there might be some truth to your article but I’ll let you carry on," Staley wrote in her X message.

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That prompted Haenchen to reply to Staley's tweet, giving further context about when he wrote the article, and apologizing for how he worded part of the tweet promoting it.

"Hi! Not sure if you read the story, but it was written yesterday following shootaround. That part of tweet you referenced was poorly worded and I apologize — I clarified in a reply. But no, not a clickbait story. Just a fun pregame report," Haenchen wrote.

Johnson played for Staley at South Carolina from 2021 to 2026 and won two championships. She became the No. 10 pick in this year's WNBA Draft for the Indiana Fever and primarily contributed off the bench during the regular season and playoffs.

She averaged 3.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 10.9 minutes per game this past season. After her appearance in the viral video with Hines-Allen, Johnson apologized on X for her comments in the video and expressed respect and admiration for A'ja Wilson.