With the best WNBA Draft Lottery odds at another No. 1 pick, the Fever’s rebuild

INDIANAPOLIS — The night the Indiana Fever introduced Christie Sides as their next head coach, 14 lottery balls bounced in the franchise’s favor for the first time in history. The No. 1 pick in a 2023 WNBA Draft long destined to feature a franchise-defining center who would immediately alter a team’s trajectory belonged to the Fever. It was all coming together for a franchise mired in disappointment for nearly a decade.

Except Aliyah Boston, the 2022 Naismith Award winner and national champion who lost a mere nine games in her four-year collegiate career, had the opportunity to stay at South Carolina one more season under the NCAA’s COVID-19 eligibility guidance that granted athletes an extra year.

It was Sides’ first head-coaching job, and she was tasked with a complete rebuild to finally bring the Fever out of the basement of the 12-team WNBA standings. They had not had a winning season since 2015, went 17-73 the previous three years combined and their lottery draft picks were questionable. It was not her job to make draft selections, but it was her responsibility to forge strong relationships with them.

She had never met Boston face-to-face, so during South Carolina’s week off before the NCAA tournament, the coach flew to Columbia. There was one month until the WNBA Draft, and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley had been honest with Sides. She didn’t know what option Boston would choose. So Sides wanted to sit in the gym to see how Boston responded and reacted to her presence, if only to get an idea of her leanings.

“I go to the practice, and I’m nervous as all get out, because, like, what do I say?” Sides told Yahoo Sports. “Like, ‘Hey, please don’t, please don’t stay. Hey, you know,’ like … I really don’t know what angle to go.”

She sat at the scorer’s table and watched as Boston and Victaria Saxton went to shoot free throws after practice wrapped. When the coach turned around, she was suddenly met with Boston in front of her. They exchanged the standard “nice to meet you” pleasantries.

The coach delivered her pitch.

“Listen, I’m only here because I hope if it’s either this year, or next year, whenever you decide to come out, but [that] I have the opportunity to coach you, whatever that is. You do you,” Sides said she told Boston. “I hope you’re not stressing at all about what you’re about to do, because you have nothing but great options on the table right now. Right? So that stress, I’m not here to [urge you to leave]. I just want you to meet me and see who I am. And maybe we’ll have a chance to work together and be on the same team in the future.”

Boston appreciated the visit and that Sides made her feel comfortable that she could…