DiJonai Carrington called out the WNBA over what she felt was a lack of promotion for the Connecticut Sun’s historic game Tuesday in Boston’s TD Garden.
After leading Connecticut to a victory in front of a franchise-record sellout crowd at the WNBA’s first game in Boston, Carrington did not hold back when asked to clarify her earlier social media post in which she criticized the league.
“I’m going to keep it real all the time — I feel like Connecticut as a franchise is historically disrespected,” Carrington said. “So sometimes if you want something, you gotta go out there and do it yourself. So that’s what I did for us.
“I think that there could have been a lot more publicity or promo from the top. Connecticut had announced that we were having this game probably almost a year ago. … There was ample time to do what needed to get done.”
The game, which was announced last December, drew a crowd of 19,125, marking the third-highest-attended WNBA game this season and the highest-attended matchup in Sun franchise history.
Carrington specifically was frustrated that the game was not on national television, limiting viewers to either WNBA League Pass or the league’s livestream.
“The game should’ve been on a national television broadcast,” she said after the Sun’s 69-61 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks. “You shouldn’t have to pay for any type of subscription to see a game that’s this historic, in my opinion.”
Carrington scored a game-high 19 points for the Sun, who improved to 20-7 and remained in second place in the Eastern Conference. She helped key a late 14-0 run as Connecticut rallied from a four-point deficit with four minutes to play.
Carrington, teammate Alyssa Thomas and coach Stephanie White all praised the boisterous crowd for creating what amounted to a home game for the Sun, prompting Carrington to quip about the league’s promotion of the contest.
“It didn’t matter anyway,” she said. “They showed up, and it was sold out, and we got the [win]. So I guess my tweet worked.”