DeJonai Carrington called out the WNBA’s lack of promotion for the Connecticut Sun’s historic game at Boston’s TD Garden on Tuesday.
After leading Connecticut to a victory in the WNBA’s first game in Boston in front of a franchise-record sellout crowd, Carrington didn’t hold back when asked to clarify earlier. Social media post In it he criticized the League.
“I’m going to keep it real all the time — I feel like Connecticut has historically been disrespected as a franchise,” Carrington said. “So sometimes if you want something, you have to go out and do it yourself. So I did it for us.
“I think there could have been a lot more hype or publicity from the top. Connecticut announced we were hosting this game almost a year in advance. … There was plenty of time to do what needed to be done.”
The game, announced last December, drew a crowd of 19,125, the third-most attended WNBA game of the season and the most attended contest in Sun franchise history.
Carrington was particularly frustrated that the game was not on national television, limiting viewers to WNBA League Pass or the league’s livestream.
Because you have to advertise yourself…
We play @tdgarden Tonight & sold for over 19k. Here’s the first W game ever. Historic. Not on TV, but right here on Twitter. 🙃 @WNBA— dιjonaι carrιngtonâ™› (@DijonaiVictoria) August 20, 2024
“This game should have been on national television,” he said after the Suns’ 69-61 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. “In my opinion, you don’t have to pay for any kind of subscription to watch this historic game.”
Carrington scored 19 points for the Suns, who improved to 20-7 and are second in the Eastern Conference. He helped spark a late 14-0 run as Connecticut rallied from a four-point deficit with four minutes to play.
Carrington, captain Alyssa Thomas and coach Stephanie White credited the raucous crowd for making it like a home game for the Suns, prompting Carrington to talk about the league’s promotion of the tournament.
“It’s okay,” she said. “They showed up, it sold, we got it [win]. So I guess my tweet worked.”
