DiJonai Carrington Upset Connecticut Sun Game At TD Garden Wasn't On National TV
The Connecticut Sun "hosted" the Los Angeles Sparks at TD Garden in Boston on Tuesday night. Star Sun guard DiJonai Carrington enjoyed the opportunity to play in the NBA arena, but didn't like that fans couldn't watch the game on TV.
Thanks to the rise in popularity of the WNBA – due in large part to the arrival of Caitlin Clark – the league is taking full advantage of the extra media and fan attention.
One such way to do that was to have the Connecticut Sun (who play their home games at a casino in the middle-of-nowhere, and trust me when I say that, because I live in Connecticut and have been to that casino MANY times) "host" a game in Boston where the Celtics play their home games.
Demand for the game was strong, as the WNBA sold out the arena.
Unfortunately for those fans, they weren't treated to the best exhibition of basketball, with the Sun winning 69-61 in a game where both teams failed to shoot even 40% from the field.
Carrington, though, played pretty well and led all scorers with 19 points. Prior to the game, she let her feelings about the game not being televised be known.
After the game, she did not back down on her comments and, in fact, doubled-down on the WNBA not promoting the game enough for her liking.
Wow, a straight call-out from Carrington on the WNBA failing to promote its product is pretty strong.
She also mentioned that "Connecticut, as a franchise, is historically disrespected."
That's probably true, and she isn't the first to say that.
The Connecticut Sun beat the Los Angeles Sparks at TD Garden in Boston on Tuesday and DiJonai Carrington was disappointed the game wasn't on national TV.
(Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports)
On Tuesday, Alyssa Thomas – a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning Team USA basketball squad – said to a local news reporter, "We need our own practice facility… not a lot of people want to stay in Connecticut, and we don't have the facilities that you can train all-year-round in."
Again, as a Connecticut resident, I can speak about this personally. It's hard to find fault with what Carrington and Thomas had to say.
The arena in Connecticut that's attached to the Mohegan Sun Arena is very far away from any major cities.
If players have a choice between playing in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and other major metropolitan areas or playing in the middle-of-nowhere Connecticut, the choice is fairly obvious.
One has to wonder if the players are trying to make a play to get the team out of Connecticut and up to Boston or another city.
An exterior view of the Mohegan Sun hotel during the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game on July 25, 2009, at the Mohegan Sun Arena, home of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.
(Angie Lovelace/NBAE via Getty Images)
For what it's worth, the president of the franchise, Jennifer Rizzoti, said there are no plans to move the team.
"I know people like to talk about that, but the Mohegan Tribe has supported this team for 23 years," Rizzotti said, according to Yahoo.
"They have poured into it. They invested in it, and they’re now at a point where they can finally see the value of all that investment. I feel proud to know that they continue to step up to the plate and want to have a successful franchise and want that to be in Connecticut at the Mohegan Sun Arena."
Stay tuned, because this isn't a story that's going away.