Raven Johnson is arguably South Carolina’s most important player next to Joyce Edwards. She is the longest-tenured player on the team, a two-time champion (although she missed most of the first run due to an injury), an SEC All-Defensive Team member, and the team’s best playmaker and floor general.
Earlier this season, Dawn Staley encouraged WNBA teams to look at Johnson as a first-round pick. Nevertheless, Johnson isn’t widely considered a potential first-round pick due to her lack of size and scoring.
Johnson is working on the latter this season, upping her scoring and proving that she can, in fact, put points on the scoreboard. If she can keep her increased scoring up, especially if Ta’Niya Latson has to miss some time with the injury she suffered against Providence, it could vastly improve her draft stock.
Raven Johnson has been scoring more this season
Johnson has been a starter for Dawn Staley since her second full season at South Carolina. She earned her coach’s trust by playing tough defense and running the offense well. Johnson has never been much of a scorer, though.
Before this season, her highest scoring average was the 8.1 points per game she put up in the 2023-24 season. That year, she scored double-digit points in 16 games. In her other two healthy seasons, she reached that mark a total of six times. This season, Johnson has already scored ten or more points in ten games, including a 14-point performance against USC.
Johnson still doesn’t take a ton of shots, but she is proving that she can score—and do so efficiently. Fourteen games into the season, Johnson is shooting 50% from the floor and 38.9% from three. Both mark career highs, and Johnson’s 3-point percentage is up by almost ten percent compared to last season on a slightly higher volume.
Johnson could make a WNBA roster even if she isn’t picked in the first round
Even if Johnson keeps up her elevated scoring, it might not be enough to hear her name called in the first round. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a future in the WNBA. Johnson could very well make a roster as a second-round pick, especially with two more teams joining the league and a possible addition of developmental spots to the rosters.
Johnson brings a few things to the table that WNBA teams value in young role players: experience, defensive tenacity, and the ability to fill a specific role very well. If she can bring all of that to a training camp, she could easily find herself on a WNBA bench. Her former teammate Te-Hina Paopao did the same thing after the 2025 draft. She was selected in the second round and played significant minutes for the Atlanta Dream.