After being inactive in Week 1 of the season, Carrington was active for Week 2 and Week 3.
Dijonai Carrington is a guard for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun who played college basketball at Baylor University. She was selected with the 20th pick in the 2021 WNBA draft by the Sun. Carrington also plays for Athletes Unlimited, which plays during part of the WNBA offseason.
Season 2 of Athletes Unlimited basketball kicked off in Dallas on Feb. 19 with the Week 1 draft. After being inactive in Week 1 of the season, Carrington was active for Week 2 and Week 3. However, it was first reported by basketball insider Khristina Williams, per Jade Hewitt, and since confirmed by Athletes Unlimited that Carrington will be unavailable for the remainder of Season 2.
While Carrington has not been playing, she has been vital to her team. Fellow Athletes Unlimited player, Rebecca Harris, shared her thoughts on the news.
Fans still get to see Carrington on the sidelines and have the chance to meet her and get an autograph, but they will have to wait to watch her play until the WNBA season starts.
With the way the seasons are structured, there is no conflict for athletes to play in the WNBA and in Athletes Unlimited.
If you follow along with March Madness, you have heard the name Sedona Prince. She shined a spotlight on the NCAA’s inequitable treatment of the women’s and men’s basketball tournaments.
This brought a national spotlight to not only the women’s March Madness, but to Prince herself. She made headlines again when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the NCAA in Alston v. NCAA, which ushered in the era of college athletes being able to monetize their own name, image and likeness.
Prince told Boardroom in 2022 that “with the help of her representation at Wasserman, she’s made north of $500,000 across 18 business and partnership deals, with no plans of slowing down” in one year after the Alston decision. She has deals with notable brands Crocs, Uninterrupted, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Champs to name a few.
With her ability to make money in college through her platform, she opted to stay at Oregon for the 2022-2023 season. However, a season-ending elbow injury cut the season short.
Sedona Prince will undergo season-ending elbow surgery to repair a torn ligament.
Prince will exhaust her remaining eligibility to focus on recovery before pursuing a professional career.
However, in a short interview on March 11, Prince also revealed she wants to play in Athletes Unlimited basketball Season 3. With the way the seasons are structured, there is no conflict for athletes to play in the WNBA and in Athletes Unlimited.
While Prince’s college career was cut short, we could see her in the upcoming WNBA season and the upcoming Athletes Unlimited season. More Prince is good for all of us.
The four players from the previous week with the highest points accumulation are elected captains and draft their dream team.
Each week the new captains for the four Athletes Unlimited basketball teams redraft their teams. The four players with the most points in the previous week are named captains and draft their teams.
There are five rounds in the draft each week and a total of 40 roster spots up for grabs with four spots being held by the captains for a total of 44 roster spots in the league.
The Athletes Unlimited hoops season runs through March 25 in Dallas.
Athletes Unlimited basketball, a professional women’s basketball league, ended its third week of play on March 11. It had a few surprise guests in the building, including University of Oregon’s Sedona Prince and Los Angeles Sparks and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike. Prince made headlines in 2021 when she highlighted the inequities between the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.
Prince gave a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Athletes Unlimited hoops and ran down a bit of the scoring system and how captains are picked each week. While the rules for the game are the same as the WNBA, the individual points players can earn, the ranking system and the weekly drafts are different than other basketball leagues.
The night was dedicated to the Special Olympics. Debbie Antonelli, a women’s college basketball analyst and founder of 24 Hours of Nothing But Net, was in attendance to help with the 24-hour shoot-a-thon.
Today we are partnering with Special Olympics for the @24HoursNBN Shoot-A-Thon 🏀
The shoot-a-thon was successful: 2,400 free throws were made in 24 hours. Las Vegas Aces’ Theresa Plaisance chose the Special Olympics as her Athlete Cause this season. This program, powered by Give Lively, provides players of Athletes Unlimited a fundraising platform that allows them “to donate funds equal to 100% of their season win bonus to support the causes they love.”
This season, Theresa Plaisance chose Special Olympics as her Athlete Cause 🏀
Believe me @sedonaprince_ & I did practice! Lol! THE definition of giving back! Thank you Sedona for your generous gift to @SpecialOlympics to help these athletes train compete organize & learn to be a part of a team! Thank you for using your platform for good & to serve others https://t.co/Xn3GvIqkTR
The Athletes Unlimited hoops season runs through March 25. Dallas is the home for Season 2 of Athletes Unlimited Basketball and one ticket allows entry to two games.
In 2020, Lichtman agreed to come back from retirement and play in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited volleyball
This Women’s History Month, I will be spotlighting women athletes and their achievements in college, after college, and beyond. Athletes are Humans First and while I want to highlight their athletic ability and achievements, I also want to point a spotlight on what they are doing off their field of play.
Cassidy Lichtman is the Director of Volleyball for Athletes Unlimited where she was previously a professional volleyball player and Chairperson of the Player Executive Committee. Lichtman is a former member of the USA Volleyball Women’s National Team, a two-time All-American, and an Academic All-American at Stanford.
She played professionally in Europe and Asia for five years and was keenly aware of the power imbalances prevalent in sport between the owners and the players. The owners had full control and reign over the lives of the athletes on the court and a huge level of power off the court as well.
“Rule number 1, don’t argue with the owner, because they own you. The decide if you get paid, if you get fired, where you live, how much you play, whether or not you get Christmas off,” Lichtman said in her TEDxBoston presentation entitled The Power in My Voice. She played half of the year in Europe and Asia and half the year on the USA Volleyball Women’s National Team and retired in 2016. However in 2020, when a professional league was founded in the United States, Lichtman agreed to come back from retirement and play in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited volleyball. Up until that point, no professional indoor volleyball leagues existed in the United States.
There were no owners, no clubs, and no set teams. This was something entirely different than anything Lichtman had experienced previously in her volleyball career. The balance of power was shifted and players held power with the founders of the league. This was a novel concept that kept the players at the nexus of all decisions made within the league. Lichtman became the Chairperson of the Player Executive Committee (PEC) which is made up of five athletes from the volleyball league. The PEC meets with league staff, co-founders, and other leadership to work together on decision-making that affects the league.
One revolutionary decision the players were allowed to make is what uniforms they wanted to wear. Some players wanted shorts and others wanted long leggings, so each player was able to choose what bottoms they wore. This seemingly small choice, allowed all the players to feel comfortable when they were doing their job, playing volleyball professionally.
Other teams in other professional women’s leagues are starting to allow athletes to make choices about their own bodies. Recently, the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League announced, in a press release:
“Orlando Pride has announced an updated look to its Luna Kit, the Club’s secondary jersey. To make players more comfortable and confident when playing during their menstrual cycle, the team will now wear black shorts, replacing the white shorts previously worn throughout the 2022 season and with other secondary kits in prior years.”
Small change but important priority for us. Improving performance and setting an example regarding inclusivity and accessibility to keep women, girls, and menstruating non-binary and trans athletes in sport matters! Thankful for the buy-in to make these changes! #PrideOrDiehttps://t.co/flgnCugmgT
Athletes having a voice in their workplace and being able to advocate for themselves is vital to a healthy sports ecosystem. People like Lichtman are making sure athletes are given that opportunity.
Athletes Unlimited volleyball is gearing up for another season. Ahead of their fall season, the league is embarking upon the Athletes Unlimited Volleyball Exhibition Tour. The tour features Athletes Unlimited professional volleyball athletes traveling across the United States playing exhibition matches against top college programs. This tour will promote the sport at a grassroots level and preview what’s to come in season 3 of Athletes Unlimited volleyball.
Athletes Unlimited raised $30 million in new funding at the end of 2022 and Durant was part of the diverse investor groups.
Phoenix Suns players Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and T.J. Warren watched some women’s basketball games while they were in Dallas before their own game against the Dallas Mavericks.
The three stopped by Athletes Unlimited to watch women’s professional basketball players light up the court. The Suns beat the Mavericks and it could have been because the trio picked up some luck from Athletes Unlimited players.
“We have been advisors for AU since the very beginning, and we’re excited to be a part of this capital raise,” Durant said in an Athletes Unlimited press release. “Athletes Unlimited is at the forefront of women’s sports and an inspiration for how sports leagues can thrive with an athlete-first business model.”
Durant consistently brings women’s professional basketball to the forefront across his social media. When Athletes Unlimited announced a renewed partnership with Nike, Durant shared the news with his 20.8 million followers on Twitter.
Durant is vocal about his support for the women’s side of the game and reached out to the Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart to urge her to sign with the New York Liberty during free agency so they could be in the same city. Shortly after Stewart signed with the Liberty, Durant was traded to the Suns.
.@KDTrey5 REALLY wants Breanna Stewart to join the New York Liberty. 🗽👀
"I hit [Breanna Stewart] the other day, and I never do this, and was like, 'Yo, it would be an incredible dynasty in New York City if you came here.'" pic.twitter.com/BTnCtkETJW
When he got to Phoenix, a touching video was shared on the Phoenix Mercury’s social media account of Durant and WNBA superstar and Olympic champion Brittney Griner embracing. Griner was detained in a Russian prison while playing basketball abroad. After months of negotiation, she was finally released.
The Suns weren’t the only ones attending the Athletes Unlimited game on March 4. Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale and WNBA free agent Te’a Cooper stopped by to check out the action.
Naz Hillmon broke the Athletes Unlimited single-game leaderboard points record.
Naz Hillmon broke the Athletes Unlimited single-game leaderboard points record with 834 points. The scoring system for Athletes Unlimited is different from traditional scoring systems. This system allows players to earn points for more than just scoring, which rewards players with other skill sets such as ball thieves, bigs who block and rebounding gawds.
So about last night…
Naz Hillmon broke the #AUHoops single-game leaderboard points record with 834 points‼️
Her stat line: 🏀 33 points 🏀 12 boards 🏀 3 assists 🏀 MVP 1 🏀 a Win for her team
Hillmon played college basketball at Michigan and was its first All-American in its women’s basketball program. She was the first Michigan basketball player – male or female – in school history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds. Hillmon recorded a double-double in the team’s four games in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, finishing her career with 52 total.
She was drafted 15th overall by the Atlanta Dream in the 2022 WNBA draft and started in 12 of 24 games played in her first season. Before the start of the 2023 WNBA season, Hillmon joined Athletes Unlimited for its second season of play and she is turning heads.
Since Hillmon was top four in points in Week 2 of Athletes Unlimited, she was selected as a team captain and drafted a new team for Week 3. To learn more about Athletes Unlimited and its scoring system, look at the video below:
The Athletes Unlimited basketball season ends on March 25. The WNBA 2023 season kicks off on May 19. Hillmon and the Dream play against the Dallas Wings on May 20 at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
The league was founded by Jon Patricof and Jonathan Soros on March 3, 2020, and has four women’s professional sports under its umbrella: softball, volleyball, basketball and lacrosse. In 2021, it added volleyball and in 2022, it added basketball. The power is in the hands of the players and there are no owners for the teams. Players make decisions both on and off their field of play, which gives the entire league a player-centric ethos. Each league has a player executive committee that meets weekly with Athletes Unlimited staff to work on all aspects of the league, from adding players to the roster to establishing the rules and scoring system.
Players in all sports, including basketball, compete under a point system where players and teams are rewarded for individual and team performance. Each week the four highest-ranked players are appointed as captains and redraft teams for the following week’s competition. This not only allows fans to see different matchups each week, but it also allows the players to get a feel for different schemes and teammates. The league has big-name sponsors including Nike, Gatorade, Topps, Caesars, Sportradar and GEICO.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CpJhMPNvJXF/
Prominent international and WNBA players play in the league, which does not conflict with their seasons. WNBA stars such as Las Vegas Aces guard Sydney Colson, Los Angeles Sparks guard Lexie Brown and Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud bring the heat each week on the court. The WNBA only has 144 roster spots, so leagues such as Athletes Unlimited allow athletes to play domestically and not have to pursue opportunities overseas.
WNBA players playing abroad were put in the international spotlight when WNBA champion and Olympic medalist Brittney Griner was detained in Russia while she was playing overseas. But things are changing for the better and women’s college basketball fans are able to follow the careers of their favorite players past college with easier access thanks to leagues like Athletes Unlimited.
The games are fan and athlete-focused, including free autograph signings at the end of each game along with free swag and custom posters for each week. Dallas is the home for Season 2 of Athletes Unlimited Basketball and one ticket allows entry to two games.
