Women's Fastbreak On SI

NaLyssa Smith's 5-Word Message to Fever Fans Furthers Confounding Relationship

Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith addressed her team's fanbase with five words.

Grant Young

Jun 30, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith (1) against the Phoenix Mercury during a WNBA game at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jun 30, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith (1) against the Phoenix Mercury during a WNBA game at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith had a rollercoaster 2024 season.

The 24-year-old was an important part of Indiana's roster construction and started in 37 of their 40 regular season games. There were times when she showed the same brilliance from her college days at Baylor that made her the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft, then there were other times when she seemed to disappear on the offensive end — which is shown by her points per game being 10.6 this season, as opposed to the 15.5 it was in 2023.

Plus, Smith had a rather rocky relationship with the Fever's fanbase. Her relationship with Sun guard DiJonai Carrington (who has been extremely critical of Fever fans) and various social media posts have made it seem like she's intentionally irking these fans just for the sake of doing so, which has turned many Indiana fans against her.

She seemed to address these fans once again with a recent X post that has since been deleted. X user @lifewithkeerose wrote, "Fever fans having smoke for NaLyssa is so odd. I have not seen one actual solid reason lmao".

Smith initially responded with "DAWG!!! 🤣🤣" but has since deleted that response, and instead reposted the initial message.

But there's still love between Smith and some Fever fans, which was shown in a follow-up post when X user @adcallday wrote, "REAL Fever fans do not. We love you."

"& i love yall too <3" Smith responded.

This five-word message Smith made shows that there's still love between her and her team's fanbase — at least some of the time.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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