UNCASVILLE, CT.—The WNBA semifinal series between the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx is headed to a decisive Game 5 on Tuesday night in Minneapolis. In so many ways, a fifth act feels like a necessity for the compelling theater these two teams have produced so far through 160 minutes of playoff basketball.
The storylines are rich and numerous. Yes, these are the two best defensive teams in the league. Also, did you know that Connecticut knocked Minnesota out of the playoffs last year? Look at Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas going at it. They’re both gold medalists! DeWanna Bonner’s an all-star. Kayla McBride is too. Who knows which coach will get the upper hand in this clash of titans, this year’s Coach of the Year or last year’s Coach of the Year?
Yes, the Lynx and the Sun are worthy opponents exchanging punch for playoff punch. Not to be lost in the litany of writing material these two teams provide is the testament to patience and belief paying off in the forms of both Connecticut’s DiJonai Carrington and Minnesota’s Bridget Carleton.
“It’s really important because we live in a world of instant gratification,” Sun Head Coach Stephanie White said during the pregame press conference before Game 2. “We live in a world that wants immediate success. We live in a world that, you know, all the eyes and all the ears and all the clicks and all the everything is written about, you know, the ones who have that immediate satisfaction and gratification. But the reality is it takes work. It takes time. It is a process. You have your elite few, who will always come into this league and start right away and put up great numbers right away. It’s just not the norm, but that’s what we want to sensationalize. The norm is the work, the grind, and the resilience of players.”
Carleton and Carrington both are qualified to teach grad school level courses in resilience and the grind.
A second-round pick of the Sun in 2021, Carrington arrived in the W as a rookie out of Baylor by way of Stanford. Just like every player who enters the league, Carrington had to fight for minutes, which weren’t immediately plentiful. Unlike other players, multiple ACL tears and a torn patellar tendon produced six surgeries before the age of 25 for Carrington. Forcing the young and talented player to spend full offseasons dedicated to rehab more so than refinement.
“That’s something that I’ve really tried to focus on especially in this world that we live in, where everything is typically at the click of a button,” Carrington told The Next after shootaround ahead of Game 3 against Minnesota. “Just the art and I think the depth of how much more it means when you do wait and when you do just kind of work your way up, it means a lot.”
Carrington has parlayed the hard work that takes place in the shadows into a special season in 2024. She’s posted career highs across the board and has become a fixture of Connecticut’s starting lineup after making just three starts across her first three seasons in the league. An imposing presence on the defensive perimeter, Carrington is one of the biggest threats in the league to snatch a ball away and send it the other direction at any time. Justly earning her a place on the WNBA’s all-defensive first-team, and the honor of being named the league’s Most Improved Player.
Carrington has certainly always been a talented player, but in 2024 she’s put it all together in such a way to stake a claim as an undeniable star in the league.
“I would just say the consistency,” Carrington said when asked what specific area she’s shown the most growth in. “Because I feel like I’ve always had spurts of playing well whether it was offensively or getting stops defensively, but putting both of those together and consistently doing it, I think has been one of (my) biggest jumps.
“During the season, that was one of the things I consistently focused on was staying disciplined, whether it was my closeouts, tendencies, things like that. You make it hard for the other team when you’re disciplined and not taking chances, not lunging, making them just do different things and get deep in the shot clock.”
On the other side of Carrington’s stifling defense in this series has been Carleton, a fellow second-round draft pick of the Connecticut Sun, who spent the majority of her career entering 2024 coming off the bench, but who played her way into the starting lineup and forced her coach to keep her there.
After getting cut by the Sun just four games into her WNBA career, Carleton found her way to Minnesota, where she got her coach’s eye during her first shift of work on the floor simply by making simple plays.
“It was a simple bounce pass to an open player off of the defensive rotation to her,” Lynx Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve said. “She made a simple play. And I just think about that and how much that affected us, because it’s lost on people to do the simple thing. So that’s how we knew that she’d be really valuable and that hopefully with time she would get to where she’s gotten to.”
Carleton started 15 games and played a big role for Minnesota in the bubble, helping the Lynx to reach the semis. She became a fan favorite and cult hero with her relentless defense and clutch shooting. Elements of her game have only expanded to make her an everyday starter and a central part of this Lynx team’s success. She was even a third place finisher in the Most Improved Player voting, behind Carrington and LA’s Dearica Hamby.
“It’s cool, obviously DiJonai, so well deserved, Dearica too, her numbers jumped tremendously even though she has been a great player in this league for a long time,” Carleton told The Next after shootaround before Game 3 in Connecticut. “We’ve all had different paths. I think (mine) speaks to my longevity with the Lynx and their trust in me, and their patience with me, and me just waiting my turn, getting the opportunity and showing what I’m capable of doing.”
Carleton finished 5th in 3-point percentage (44.4%) and along with her shooting partner McBride, broke a Lynx single-season record for made threes that stood for almost a quarter century.
“I think I have gotten better every single year, and then just (got) the opportunity to show it a little more this year,” Carleton said. “I’ve kind of come into my own, which has been really fun, and to be recognized at that level is pretty cool.”
Carleton herself, doesn’t recall the specific bounce pass that earned Reeve’s trust all those years ago, but wasn’t surprised by the anecdote. Making a simple and correct play is still a great way to get minutes on a Coach Reeve team.
“I think Cheryl appreciates the little things and just making the right basketball play and being a smart basketball player,” Carleton said. “That’s what I bring to a team. That’s kind of who I’ve been my whole career. I’m thankful for her that she sees the value in that even when I’m not scoring. Last year averaging three points a game, she still saw value in me as a defender, as a playmaker, as a good decision-maker, being reliable and that’s what I pride myself in.”
In a season marked by rapid growth for the league and swarms of new fans who may crave the instant gratification that’s so rife in this current sports media climate, players like Carleton and Carrington exemplify the rich rewards that are possible when budding careers are given the time to bloom.
“It’s really satisfying, because I think maybe one of the hardest things to do in our profession is to be patient with a player and let them evolve and grow,” Reeve said. “(Carleton’s) in her sixth season, so I think that tells you a lot because there’s many times that we didn’t allow that process to happen, and that (shows) maybe how much we thought of her being a Lynx, and our belief that what she would get to, where she’s gotten to, and even has more she could do.”
While Carleton and Carrington have both made spectacular contributions to their respective winning teams this season, their not alone as players whose path to WNBA stardom was anything but straight and narrow.
“There are a lot of players who were out of the league, who had to work their way back in, who have found their ways into rotations. There are players who bounce from team to team before they find a home,” White said before Game 2 of the semis. “Those are stories that need to be told because that is the reality of a lot of the players in our league, probably the majority of the players in our league. Always it’s about finding the right fit. It’s about finding the right situation that pours into you and really encourages that development. Those are two great examples and I would love for more stories like that to continue to be told.”
