Like many others in the league, Aliyah Boston too traded the comfort that offseason brings for some productive time competing in Unrivaled. Just a day before the league semifinal, Boston was ruled out for a right lower extremity injury. Now, it’s not uncommon to rule players out more quickly than the W, even for those who are in a championship run. It was understood to be more precautionary than anything else at the time, but does that still hold merit?

Coming off an All-Star campaign sets off its own kind of expectations. But for Aliyah Boston, she has mostly trudged through the weeds of drastic change ever since the preseason began. The injury from February was what forced her out of the first two preseason games and compelled the medical staff to put restrictions on her floor time for this season. If those weren’t telling signs, the Washington Mystics game last week just flipped the conversation for good.

“A lot of fans are wondering, what is this injury? So, Scott Agness actually reported that it was a meniscus injury originally,” analyst Rachel DeMita reported on her YouTube channel Monday. “The injury that happened to her during Unrivaled was a meniscus injury.

“There are certain meniscus tears that kind of get in the way of what you’re doing. So, you might have some pain and soreness, but it’s okay to push through it. A lot of times, even a meniscus tear, if it’s not severe, you can kind of play through it, and you don’t have too much risk of damaging other things because you still have your stabilization.”

After playing just 21 minutes during Friday’s narrow 104-102 loss to the Washington Mystics, Boston moved to the locker room due to an injury to her right foot and didn’t return to the court again. It isn’t known whether the current injury was a consequence stemming from her previous injury. But the timeline proximity as well as the same anatomical location considered, this could very well be a case of reaggravation. So, going by those assumptions, DeMita explores the possibility for a surgery and what that might entail.

“So, a lot of time, it’s a cleanup kind of scope surgery, ” DeMita added. “And those, you do recover pretty quickly. I do think, if Aliyah Boston had surgery tomorrow, she’d probably be back by the end of the season to play. But the surgery isn’t foolproof either. So, meniscus injuries are just so irritating because you can be at 70-80%, but getting to 100% with a meniscus injury is hard.”

DeMita’s assessment makes sense. Meniscus recovery is mainly of two types: partial meniscectomy and meniscus repair. The first one is a quick process, and it requires around 4 to 6 weeks of recovery for the athlete. But in the second case, the doctors largely stitch the torn parts and thus require around 3 to 6 months of recovery time.

For now, the Indiana Fever’s head coach Stephanie White has said Aliyah Boston is day-to-day. However, if there’s something serious regarding the injury that White isn’t mentioning in the public domain, the Fever might have a daunting task on their hands.

The Fever successfully passed their first test without Boston, beating the Storm 89–78 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. But their schedule looks a lot trickier from here.

Indiana Fever Hosts Portland Fire Up Next Amid Aliyah Boston’s Injury Fiasco

With the approach Stephanie White took with her players in the preseason, it’s quite certain the Indiana Fever won’t rush Aliyah Boston back, even if she’s at 50%. If Boston stays out of the upcoming game against the Portland Fire on May 20, the Fever will have a challenge on their hands to fill her shoes.

The Fire might be an expansion team, but they have been in a giant-slaying arc right now. They already defeated a stacked New York Liberty a few days back before facing a loss in a two-game series and are coming off a win over the Connecticut Sun.

Their players are firing on all cylinders this season. Carla Leite is a player the Indiana Fever should be wary of on the court, with an average of 19.5 points per game. Bridget Carlton is averaging 17 points per game this season while Sug Sutton leads the team in assists. Defending these players on the court won’t be easy at all for the Fever without Boston.

In Aliyah Boston’s absence, the Fever will put their faith in Monique Billings and Myisha Hines-Allen. They showcased hustle on loose balls and defended the paint well. The Fever does have strong perimeter defenders like Lexi Hull and Raven Johnson. But the level of physicality that Boston brings to the frontcourt will be difficult to replace.