Vegas’ decision not to play draws mixed reaction from Sun

Mohegan — Connecticut's Layshia Clarendon and Chiney Ogwumike totally get why the Las Vegas Aces didn't show up at the Verizon Center for Friday night's WNBA game against the Washington Mystics.

“I'm coming off of two (major) injuries,” said Ogwumike, who is also vice president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association. “I feel the effects of flights. I feel the effects of not having sleep. … To hop off a plane, we do this all the time, and go straight to practice, it's not easy to do.

“You look at some of their players. Kayla McBride is finally having her first healthy season. She's been inand-out in her young career. Moriah Jefferson is coming off (offseason knee surgery). You have obviously a young rookie in A'ja (Wilson), but she's playing heavy minutes. … I can understand why they think that's challenging.”

WNBA officials have yet to decide on how to deal with the Aces and their decision not to play the game.

“I was personally in support of (the Aces) because I'm all for health and wellness,” Clarendon said.

Travel is one of the most aggravating issues for WNBA players and coaches. Teams are not allowed to charter flights. They deal with all the annoyances that come with commercial flights.

Las Vegas played at home Wednesday night and was scheduled to fly to D.C. on Thursday afternoon. The Aces waited eight hours at the airport before their flight was canceled, according to Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press.

The team took an overnight flight and arrived in Dallas on Friday morning, then split into groups and flew into D.C. The last group arrived at 3 p.m.

The Aces were supposed to play Washington at 7, although the WNBA announced Friday afternoon that the game was being pushed back to 8. Las Vegas then informed the Mystics and the league it would not play about 90 minutes before tipoff.

Clarendon, the first vice president the WNBPA, was with the Indiana Fever when its 2015 game at Connecticut was postponed due to both mechanical and weather issues. Indiana played on a Friday night in Washington, and the delays on Saturday morning prevented it from arriving in time to play the Sun that night.

“I was like, ‘I'm not stepping on the court, and I'll have to take a fine and kind of fight it later,'” Clarendon said. “A lot of women (in the WNBA) play overseas. If an injury happened in that game because you decided to step on the court, that's a lot of money and your wellness that you're putting (at risk).”

Indiana had travel issues this weekend, too. It was scheduled to fly from Indianapolis to New York on Friday for Saturday's 3 p.m. game. The Fever waited at the airport for three hours before their flight was canceled due to thunderstorms, the AP reported.

Indiana was forced to fly out Saturday morning at 7, but played the game and beat the Liberity 68-55.

“We would've played,” Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller said about the Aces' decision. “I don't know how bad it was (for them). I don't know the frustration that went along with the day. We've all had (crazy) travel plans. We played two back-to-backs this year. Both times, when we played back-toback, we arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, after 12 p.m., on the day of the game with a 7 o'clock game (that night).

“Nights after games in this league as a whole, you usually don't get to bed until after midnight. When you take the first flight out because you're playing a back-to-back (on the road), you're normally pulling out of hotels at 4:30, 4:45 ... at the latest 5 a.m. You're lucky if you get three or four hours of sleep.

“It isn't the perfect scenario, but we all go through it. And so I think there's a general consensus that while there's empathy and sympathy (for the Aces) and their situation may be unprecedented, we're all playing back-to-backs in this league on very little sleep.”

Oddly enough, Las Vegas has six home games this season in which its opponent was finishing a back-toback. That's over a third of its schedule (teams get 17 home games).

Washington is the next closest with three, according to AP, and five teams don't have any. Vegas is so far 1-3 in those games.

Asked how players would respond if the league penalized the Aces, Clarendon said, “I think it might be split, honestly. … Some players are kind of upset. They're like, ‘they (Vegas) should suck it up and play.' Other players are more sympathetic.

“I think this had more extenuating circumstances than your typical back-to-back.”