Last season in Unrivaled, Aliyah Boston set a single-season record with 29 blocks in 14 games for Phantom BC and earned the Defensive Player of the Year honor.
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Boston had a successful season, as she helped her team secure the No. 1 seed with an 11-3 regular-season record and advance to the championship game. However, she was notably absent from the playoffs after suffering a right lower-extremity meniscus injury during the final regular-season game. Now, that same injury has come back to haunt Phantom BC in Unrivaled’s third season.
“Star center Aliyah Boston will miss the 2027 Unrivaled season due to ongoing recovery from her right knee arthroscopy earlier this month. She’s expected to return in 2028.” Indiana Fever insider Tony East said on X.
Needless to say, it is a huge blow for Unrivaled’s 2026 Coach of the Year, Roneeka Hodges, as Boston was one of the key centerpieces of her side. After all, they will miss out on an average of 18.9 points and 9.7 rebounds in her absence. There is an argument to be made that Phantom BC would have been on the winning side instead of Breanna Stewart’s Mist BC if Boston had played in the final.
But with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that this was coming. Throughout her career, Boston has mostly remained injury-free. Yet in her fourth season in the WNBA, she battled through the same injury she sustained in Unrivaled.
On May 17, Boston missed out on a game against the Seattle Storm because of the same issue. The right leg issue was aggravated on July 28 during the Fever’s third clash against the Storm. Boston played only 11 minutes before she tripped over Storm rookie Flau’jae Johnson’s foot, once again leaving a massive hole in the Fever’s weak defense. Just last month, in the Fever’s regular-season finale against the Minnesota Lynx, Boston exited in the second quarter. According to Fever head coach Stephanie White, the injury was a “flare-up” of the same lower-leg issue bothering Boston since late February, and subbing her out was a precautionary measure with the playoffs around the corner.
In total, Boston missed four games this season because of this injury. While the Fever were knocked out by the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces in the first round, Boston once again powered through the injury, registering 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists in Game 1; 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists in Game 2; and 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists in Game 3.
Which brings us back to the present, when Boston underwent a successful right knee arthroscopic surgery on October 14. A lateral meniscus tear generally takes a few months to heal, so it makes sense that the 24-year-old chose to skip playing in Unrivaled to rest and recover for her fifth WNBA season next year. The good news is that the 2023 No. 1 overall pick is set to begin rehab with the Fever medical staff, so it will be interesting to see how rapidly she recovers from this long-running injury and returns to her best in one of the most important Fever seasons in recent memory.