Aliyah Boston On Shutting Off Social Media And Being ‘Consistent’ For The Indiana Fever

On June 1, adidas presented Aliyah Boston with her first-ever adidas PE, the “Virgin Island Pride VI Strong” Exhibit Select 2.0. Boston designed the sneaker in honor of St. Thomas, her hometown, and the bright colors also incidentally reflect Boston’s vibrant personality.

To start this season, the 2023 Indiana Fever No. 1 overall pick put her foot down to protect her effortless self-expression — temporarily deleting social media. Boston had been inundated by disgusting harassment and negativity — oftentimes by people who couldn’t even bother to spell her first name correctly — sparked by unrealistic expectations projected unto the then-struggling Fever after drafting Caitlin Clark No. 1 overall in April. Boston, who cemented a record-setting collegiate career at South Carolina before unanimously winning the 2023 WNBA Rookie Of The Year, felt self-doubt creeping in.

Boston and the Fever fought through a groggy start to win eight of 13 entering 2024 WNBA All-Star Weekend. Freed from outside noise, Boston’s joy returned, as she developed chemistry with Clark and logged eight double-doubles in June and July. Indiana, 11-15, is slotted in the seventh playoff spot, and Boston knows the best is yet to come.

DIME caught up with Boston in Phoenix during All-Star Weekend, where Boston opened up about navigating social media, recognizing the Fever’s potential, and calling Dawn Staley for advice.

You designed your first adidas PE, the “Virgin Island Pride VI Strong,” to honor your hometown. But how did the designing process specifically feel like an extension of you?

When you’re able to talk about every single detail that you want in that shoe, how you want it to be shown, I feel like that in itself is an extended representation of me, especially when I was thinking about how I wanted my first PE. I knew I wanted to make it back to St. Thomas, in a sense, and that’s exactly what I did. I remember having several meetings talking about the color, how I wanted the flag on it, where I would want the sole, and they were just so open. I just feel like it’s such a special role for me.

You’ve always seemed like such an exuberant, extroverted person. So, while it’s always significant when someone feels the need to delete social media, it especially struck me because expressing yourself publicly always seemed to come so naturally to you. What was the final straw that let you know you needed to log off?

For me, it was really just the constant noise. I love to be on TikTok or even just open up social media and scroll. But I feel like every time I opened up it up, there was something about me or something about our team. I don’t internalize a lot of stuff, but when you continue to see stuff over and over again, I mean, it makes it hard not to second-guess yourself. And I feel like, yeah, I needed to take that step back so I can make sure that I know what I’m doing. I know that I’m confident in myself, my game. And so, it really helped because I didn’t have to worry about what other people were saying about me. I knew that what I was doing was enough.

During a postgame presser in LA in late May, you spoke about how you were starting to feel better because you trusted God’s timing. You said you believed the harassment you faced on socials was part of a season, and you couldn’t wait to “come out on the other side.” Has two-ish months been enough time to understand the reason for that season?

Absolutely. I mean, I feel like you never really know why you go through certain stuff, but I feel like, for me, it was to continue to build my leadership skills, continue to build my confidence up, and continue to have faith. Sometimes, we go through trials and tribulations, and it’s because God wants to see our faith continue to build. I feel like that’s exactly what I did. I got off social media, and I continued to focus on making sure I’m getting extra reps in the gym, making sure I can continue to be that consistent person for my team. At the end of the day, that’s what I have to do. I have to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to make sure I’m that consistent person for my team.

So far, what has been the most surprising or unanticipated aspect of your sophomore season?

I don’t know if it’d be surprising because I feel like going into game, I really want to win. But I also feel like we had really big wins this year with our young group — beating New York, beating Minnesota. Those are great wins for us. We’re at 11 wins right now, which, last year, we had 13. And so, with 14 games left, that’s a lot of room to win a lot more games than we had last year. That’s really exciting.

After winning Rookie Of The Year, what were your goals for your sophomore season?

Once again, to be consistent. I also had a goal of being an All-Star, so I’m really blessed to be here. To make a playoff run. That’s another one of my goals. But it was really just to continue to be me. Coming off of my rookie season, everyone really knows what you bring, and I feel like I have to continue to expand my game, whether that shooting the three or attacking off the dribble from the mid-post. I feel like I’ve been able to do that.

From an outsider’s perspective, I’ve noticed your joyful demeanor return. What has helped you feel more like yourself again?

Honestly, it’s just finding the love of the game. Sometimes, you go through so much hard stuff, and you kind of get mad at the game because you feel like you put in so much work, so much effort, and you’re not really getting what you want to see out of it. I think a big part of that was to be able to get some big wins because when you’re winning, everything’s always good. It’s using those wins to continue to keep my spark because I know that what we’re capable of, so, play happy and play free.

You and your Fever teammates started finding footing together over the past month or so. Have you found any relief in getting results — validation that you’re doing the right things — or does it just add more pressure to the unrealistic outside expectation to be perfect or become world champions overnight?

It adds some relief because you know that, listen, one, we’re halfway through the season. We’ve made so much progress. I think, sometimes, we get caught up in the wins and losses, but we really have grown as a team from the beginning of the season to now. I feel like we have to look at that. We have to look at it as, listen, we know at the end of this season, it’s going to be hard. We’re going to have to come back and train before we start playing again. But we know we’re capable of. We beat some great teams. We beat teams that we should beat, which is always great because there’s always those teams that we never want to just lose to.

What do you wish all of the strangers who spew bigotry, judgment, hatred, and whatever else online could understand about the real-life impact it has on athletes as human beings?

People forget that we’re human, and the moment that you put the human perspective into it, it should change what you say. At the end of the day, if this was your daughter, your niece, your cousin getting hate spewed toward them, you would want to make it stop. I just feel like people should really just think about what they post. I know people do a lot of stuff for clickbait, but there are also some people that really just have that type of mindset and hatred in their heart. As players, it’s about continuing to focus on us and our mental health. If we look at everything people say, we’ll have a really hard time getting past some stuff. I wish people would think before they type because if they were in this position, they wouldn’t want that.

Has a mantra or phrase naturally emerged between you and your teammates?

Not exactly, but it’s just been about continuing to uplift each other — no matter what. It doesn’t matter what we’re going through, we have to uplift each other because it’s us.

During difficult times, do you ever wonder, What would Dawn do?

Sometimes, because I call her, and I ask her questions. There have been many moments when I call, and I’m just like, “Coach, I don’t know. I feel like I don’t know what to do.” And she’s like, “Aliyah, at the end of the day, you’re growing; you’re learning.” She tells me that she sees my improvement. Sometimes, she’ll tell me what she thinks I need to do. And sometimes I’m like, “Coach, you don’t have to come at me that hard!” She’s like, “Whatever. You know it is love.” And that’s just what it is. That’s why I’m thankful for our relationship because, no matter what, she’s there.

Is there something specific she’s told you that generated reaction of, Ah, you didn’t have to say that?

One time, she was like, “Go rebound more.” I’m like, “Coach, first of all, I’m sharing my rebounds. Caitlin gets like, seven. NaLyssa [Smith] gets, like, 12.” That was one of the funniest things she’s said recently about my play.

What did the first half of this season teach you about yourself?

Just how resilient I am. The first half of the season, I had to battle some stuff on and off the court. It’s just understanding you get hit, but you get back up. Nothing can limit you. Nothing can stop you because God’s plan is always going to be greater. No matter what you go through, you know that it’s for a reason.