Aliyah Boston ruled out of USA Basketball World Cup qualifying after Unrivaled injury
Indiana Fever center will miss the upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament after suffering a lower-extremity injury during the Unrivaled regular season.
Caitlin Clark will not have Indiana Fever teammate Aliyah Boston by her side over the next few weeks with USA Basketball.
USA Basketball announced Thursday that Boston is no longer available to compete. The update comes one week after she sustained what Unrivaled described as a “right lower extremity” injury.
For now, the specific injury — and how long it could keep her out — is unknown.
Team USA will gather in Miami this weekend for training camp ahead of five games in the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fever head coach Stephanie White is serving as an assistant coach on Kara Lawson’s staff.
Monique Billings and Rae Burrell were added to the 12-player roster to replace Boston and Sonia Citron.
Game Schedule:
March 11 vs. Senegal
March 12 vs. Puerto Rico
March 14 vs. Italy
March 15 vs. New Zealand
March 17 vs. Spain
Fever coaches and executives, along with Clark, were in Miami a few weeks ago to visit with their players at Unrivaled. And Clark and Boston last played together in early December as they held another Team USA training camp at Duke.
After playing for Vinyl in the inaugural Unrivaled season in 2025, Boston was drafted by Phantom for Season 2 and helped the team to an 11–3 record — including seven straight wins to close the regular season.
However, Boston was unavailable for the playoffs after suffering the injury on Feb. 27 in a 72–68 win over Rose. She played only five minutes — the only time in 14 games this season she logged single-digit minutes.
One day later, Boston was named Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year after setting a league record with 29 blocks in 14 games and averaging a league-best 2.1 blocks per game. The voting panel consisted of Unrivaled players and coaches, along with national sportswriters and broadcasters.
The honor came after Boston was voted to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team last October.
On March 1, Unrivaled provided a brief update, announcing Boston had been ruled out for the remainder of the season. That was notable because Boston, 24, has not missed a game in three WNBA seasons. The No. 1 overall pick in 2023 has played in 124 consecutive games to begin her professional career.
Additionally, players on the title-winning team share a $600,000 prize.
Boston was in attendance at Sephora Arena in Miami on Wednesday but was not in uniform. She was also not wearing a walking boot.
Kiki Iriafen replaced Boston in the starting lineup.
Mist BC, led by Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart, made a free throw to secure the title, 80–74. (The final quarter is played to a target score.)
“There were some breakdowns that I think AB fills the gap, offensively and defensively,” Phantom guard Kelsey Plum said after the loss in the one-game finals. “It was tough.
“… AB has been our anchor defensively all year. That’s what we’ve hung our hat on. She does an incredible job of being able to guard guards, guard bigs, rebound the ball. I thought we missed her a lot tonight.”
Boston had been thriving this season. She averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game — a notable increase from 5.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in 2025. She recorded double-doubles in half of her 14 games, ranking third in the league.
Boston was scheduled to speak with reporters Saturday morning.
TNT Announces Broadcast Plans
Just a few days before training camp begins, TNT Sports announced a multi-year agreement with FIBA to televise World Cup games — beginning with the U.S. women’s games in San Juan.
This is the latest example of The Caitlin Clark Effect.
The men’s team — the roster included several connections to the Pacers and Boom — recently played a pair of qualifying games that were available only through streaming on Courtside 1891.
With Clark and several other notable players on the roster, TNT Sports ensured these games will be more widely available. And for Clark, it will be her first meaningful game action since last July.
The first four games will air on TruTV, and the final game will air on TNT. All five games will also stream on HBO Max.
Smart thinking by TNT to get it done and make sure these games can be more easily enjoyed.
