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Fever predicted to draft 'new Azzi Fudd' to help Caitlin Clark
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- Fever predicted to draft 'new Azzi Fudd' to help Caitlin Clark
Fever predicted to draft 'new Azzi Fudd' to help Caitlin Clark originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The WNBA season is over, but the NCAA basketball season has only just begun.
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For WNBA franchises, the work doesn't end when the final buzzer goes in the Finals. Teams are scouting and building their big boards ahead of the 2027 draft next April.
On Nov. 15, the WNBA will hold its draft lottery to determine who will get the top overall pick in a loaded draft class. For the Indiana Fever though, there will be no such intrigue: they have known since the regular season ended that they will pick 10th overall.
MORE: Fever's Stephanie White could get fresh start amid WNBA coaching shakeup
In Bleacher Report's first mock draft of the college basketball season, Jack Bonin projects the Fever will strengthen a strength and add more shooting to their roster.
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Bonin predicts that South Carolina guard Tessa Johnson -- compared favorably to last year's top overall pick Azzi Fudd -- will head to the Fever at 10th come April.
"Tessa Johnson is the best pure three-point shooter in the draft and would be a no-brainer selection if she makes it to Indiana at pick 10," Bonin wrote. "With Kelsey Mitchell's looming free agency and possible departure, Johnson could fill a bit of the void at guard. Even if Mitchell returns, more shooting around Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston is always a plus."
With Clark's multimillion-dollar extension looming, acquiring cheap shooting to fill out the roster if Mitchell leaves would appeal to the Fever. Johnson -- "Azzi Fudd without magnets in her hands" -- is a career 44 percent shooter from three-point range, and she averaged 12.8 points per game as a junior last year.
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However, Johnson isn't a great defender, and other parts of her offensive game need work beyond her spot-up shooting.
Even still, picking her at 10th overall would give the Fever a superlative shooter on a rookie contract who will have room to grow defensively.
"This is the ultimate high-floor, low-ceiling guard," Bonin wrote. "The shooting will play in any lineup, and Johnson has just enough juice in other areas to avoid being one-dimensional."
