Connecticut Sun star blasts practice arrangement: “Ultimate disrespect”

With the WNBA playoffs just 24 hours away, the Connecticut Sun made headlines for holding their practice just a half of a basketball court — as the Mohegan Tribe that owns the team held a community event on the other half of the court, per the Hartford Courant’s Emily Adams.

Alyssa Thomas revealed to Gabby Alfveby of The Next Hoops that on the other end of the court was a two-year-old’s birthday party, describing the arrangement as “the ultimate disrespect.”

“It’s normal at this point. I mean, Mohegan has to do better,” Thomas said. “We’re a professional team. We’re competing for the playoffs. And yeah, to have to share your court with a two-year-old[s] birthday party. [It’s] the ultimate disrespect… We need more, we need better to compete at the highest level.

Team-exclusive practice facilities have become the gold standard in the WNBA. The Las Vegas Aces were the first WNBA team to build a practice facility solely for their own usage, while the Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury both followed. Most recently, the Chicago Sky announced they would be building their own state-of-the-art facility.

A number of WNBA teams also share practice facilities with their counterpart NBA teams, such as the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever — while perhaps not as lofty as having their own facility, such an arrangement still helps ensure top-tier amenities.

The Connecticut Sun, meanwhile, practice at the Tribal Practice Facility, a part of the Mohegan Community and Government Center in Uncasville, Connecticut. The team doesn’t have exclusive access to the facility, so players can’t use it year-round — and it doesn’t have a lot of the amenities a professional basketball team’s dedicated space would have.

Sometimes, they are also deprioritized — over the Olympic break, practices were moved to Rhode Island, and Saturday was certainly not the first time players had to split the court with a workout class or other community event.

It’s not the first time Thomas has spoken about the discrepancy between the Sun’s situation and other WNBA team’s. In a press conference shortly after her return from the Paris Olympics, Thomas noted that the Sun were far behind other teams in the league when it comes to facilities and other arrangements.

“That’s one thing with playing on Team USA, and being around other players that are in markets that are the staple of what you want your organization to be in,” she said. “Honestly, Connecticut’s super behind when it comes to that. I’ve been here 11 years, and yes, we’ve made changes, but a lot of things still have so much room for improvement.”

One potential move in the right direction for the Sun was hosting their first-ever regular season game at TD Garden — a sold-out win over the Sparks that had the city buzzing.

Ahead of that one, players expressed their excitement for the opportunity to play in Boston, even if just for a single game.

“It felt great,” Carrington said on the rowdy atmosphere postgame. “It felt like what every night should feel like.”

“Clearly, we are still behind in many areas,” Thomas told reporters ahead of the TD Garden game. “And it’s crazy to say that when we made the playoffs so many different times, and have won a lot of basketball. We just want to continue to see this grow to what it can be. And I still think we have a long way to go.”

For now, the Suns’ focus is on the short-term: they face the Indiana Fever in Game 2 of the first round of the WNBA playoffs on Wednesday, where they have the opportunity to advance the semi-finals after a resounding Game 1 win.

But, with four Sun starters free agents this summer — DiJonai Carrington, Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones, and DeWanna Bonner — it’s critical that ownership demonstrates to players’ a commitment to competing with the advancements other teams have made. Right now, that doesn’t appear to be the case.