Aliyah Boston’s insane 275-game ironwoman streak snapped by injury originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Indiana Fever earned an important early-season win Sunday night, taking down the Seattle Storm 89-78 behind another brilliant performance from Caitlin Clark. But even after the final buzzer, the biggest story surrounding Indiana had little to do with the scoreboard. For the first time in nearly a decade, Aliyah Boston was not available to play basketball.
The Fever ruled Boston out before Sunday’s game with a lower right leg injury, officially ending one of the most remarkable durability streaks in recent women’s basketball history. Between her legendary run at South Carolina and her first four seasons in the WNBA, Boston had appeared in 275 consecutive games. That number almost feels impossible in today’s game.
Boston played 138 straight games during her college career at South Carolina before immediately stepping into the WNBA and appearing in 137 consecutive games for Indiana, including playoff contests. Through deep tournament runs, physical WNBA seasons and nonstop expectations as a franchise cornerstone, Boston simply never came off the floor for long.
Until now.
The Fever suddenly looked very different without Aliyah Boston
Sunday also marked another strange first for Indiana. It was the first WNBA game Clark has played without Boston next to her. The duo has quickly become one of the league’s most recognizable partnerships, with Boston handling much of the physical interior work that allows Clark to thrive offensively. Boston’s screens, rebounding, defense and passing often stabilize everything the Fever want to do offensively.
Without her, Indiana had to adjust on the fly. Veteran forward Myisha Hines-Allen entered the starting lineup while Monique Billings, Damiris Dantas and Makayla Timpson all saw larger frontcourt roles. The Fever still controlled the game thanks to Clark’s 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, but Boston’s absence changed the entire rhythm of the lineup.
There is a reason Indiana has treated her injury situation cautiously. Boston already dealt with a lower leg issue earlier this year during Unrivaled competition, and the Fever were careful with her workload throughout preseason. Head coach Stephanie White called the injury “day-to-day” before Sunday’s game and made it clear the organization was not interested in rushing anything early in the season.
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Boston’s streak showed more than toughness
Durability streaks can sometimes become background noise until they finally end. Boston’s deserves far more appreciation than that. At 6-foot-5, Boston plays one of the most physical positions in basketball. Every game involves contact in the paint, contested rebounds and constant defensive battles against opposing centers. Yet she managed to avoid missing a single game across four college seasons and four WNBA years.
That consistency helped turn her into one of the sport’s most dependable stars. Boston won a national championship at South Carolina in 2022, became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft and quickly developed into a three-time All-Star with Indiana. Last season, she finished sixth in MVP voting while continuing to anchor the Fever during the franchise’s resurgence.
Earlier this year, Indiana rewarded her with a four-year contract extension reportedly worth $6.3 million, which became the richest total-value contract in WNBA history at the time. The Fever clearly view Boston as one of the faces of the league moving forward. Sunday was a reminder of just how unusual her availability had been before the injury finally interrupted it.
And honestly, that may be the craziest stat of all.
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