Former NBA star wants to bring WNBA team to Boston: “We’re doing everything possible”

It all began with a Thanksgiving conversation between Michael Carter Williams and his mother, longtime basketball coach Mandy Carter Zegalowski.

What happens if I bring my WNBA team to Boston?

Just a few months later, the 33-year-old former NBA player is leading the fees to make that dream come true.

Everything came together quickly. Carter Williams connected with Boston-based actor and producer Donnie Wahlberg, who co-launched the Boston women's basketball partner.

For Carter Williams, the 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year and playing in the league for nearly a decade, investing in women's basketball has long been easy.

“I was always tapped alongside women's basketball, so before it got cool, I was always a supporter, right?” Carter-Williams told SB Nation in an exclusive conversation Wednesday.

That's how he grew up. His mother Mandy founded a comprehensive AAU program more than 20 years ago. The venture eventually changed McW Starzthe AAU club based in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, includes a 14-girl basketball team.

“We've been involved in women's basketball for about 12 or 13 years,” Carter Williams said. “We've always had plans and dreams and talked about how cool it is to have a WNBA team in Boston, and we started talking to the right people and formed a group. , one thing led to another. You are at least in a realistic position to bring together a group that can run to win a Boston team.”

The WNBA is in the midst of a fast and unprecedented expansion

The league includes 12 teams last year, adding 13th place Golden State Valkyries ahead of the 2025 season. There are already two teams scheduled to join Toronto Tempo and Portland in 2026. Sports Business Journal Cleveland reported that it is expected to become the league's 16th team in 2028.

WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert hopes to reach 16 teams last year by 2028. However, demand is far above its initial forecast. The long list of cities shows interest in bringing WNBA teams into town. This is a list that includes Charlotte, Austin and St. Louis. Philadelphia, Houston, MilwaukeeNashville, Detroit.

Thanks to Carter Williams and Wahlberg, Boston is now the latest folded.

Can Carter-Williams and Wahlberg buy existing WNBA teams?

Expansion was at the forefront of the conversation, but it's not the only way for the WNBA team to end in Boston.

Boston women's basketball partners can also acquire existing franchises. The most intuitive choice for its sales is the Connecticut Sun, currently a New England WNBA team but based in UNCASVILLE, Connecticut.

Last year, Sunplayers publicly expressed their desire to play for Boston. After playing one sold-out game at Los Angeles Sparks and TD Garden in August, Dihony Carrington is dull in expressing his desire to play in front of a larger crowd.

“It feels good,” she said of the atmosphere at TD Garden. “Every night it felt like I had a feeling.”

Connecticut has since experienced huge sales. Head coach Stephanie White was replaced by Indiana Fever, Alyssa Thomas, De Wanna Bonner and Breona Jones as free agents, with Carrington and Ty Harris being swapped for Dallas. Marina Mabry is the only top six player on last year's playoff team currently on next year's roster. Jen Rizzotti denied).

Thomas, a longtime franchise player for the Sun, a professional offseason 3-3 women's basketball league held in Miami, has criticised the lack of investment in infrastructure. Connecticut is one of two teams on the WNBA team that has not announced plans to build its own training facility.

“They have everything you need here,” Thomas said last month of the Unralided practice facility, days before her decision to go to Phoenix Mercury was announced. “They don't really have many of them in Connecticut. I've tried to soak up as much knowledge as possible.”

Still, the Mohegan Sun Tribes owning the Connecticut Sun I'm not interested When you sell your team (and you'll also come to Boston to see the WNBA team).

Carter Williams said that if there was the sun It was They will be interested in purchasing a franchise in the future, as they are on sale.

“I think we are open to all possibilities,” he said. “If that could happen, that's great. The main goal is to take the team to Boston, and I think there are many different paths. [through which] It can happen. That's the goal. You will need to travel to get there. That's what we want to do. ”

Carter Williams, located 40 minutes north of Boston, believes Boston is the perfect place for the WNBA team.

“Boston is a really great sports town, it's a championship city,” he said. “I think the amount of support these women receive from people in Boston is amazing.”

He also argues that the Boston team's presence benefits the entire league in terms of helping to create new rivals.

“Competition is huge in sports,” Carter Williams said. “And there's no bigger rivalry than the Red Sox and the Yankees, right? Boston is always involved, the Lakers and Celtics and Boston are always involved with these big rivals in the sport, which makes them great. I think the WNBA lacks that.”

Carter-Williams was unable to share details about which specific venues the ownership group was exploring, but shared that there was a great deal of support from state policymakers. Gary Washburn at Boston Globe Mayor Michele Wu and Governor Maura Healy reported that they were providing support for the bid.

“We're in touch with multiple people,” Carter Williams said. “We're in touch with the city. We've been in touch with people about the venue and they're really excited about it.”

He also believes the WNBA will ultimately increase the total number of teams in the 16 franchises that exceed current forecasts.

“I think people are trying to get an expansion team. They're putting pressure on the WNBA. I think they're starting to have some good issues,” Carter Williams said. “So I think they'll make some adjustments and I think we'll see the expansion team coming at a faster pace than we've seen them.”