The fourth overall pick of the 2020 WNBA draft has been suspended, and that may only be the start of the drama on the Atlanta Dream.
The Dream announced Monday that guard Chennedy Carter had been suspended for “conduct detrimental to the team.”
The Dream provided no additional details on what led to the suspension of a player who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting last year, but some reports from Sunday paint a vague picture of what happened.
During the Dream’s 118-95 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, Spencer Nusbaum of The Next reported Carter had gotten heated when a player tried to talk to her during a first-quarter timeout. Khristina Williams of Girls Sports Talk TV also reported there had been an altercation on the Atlanta bench during Sunday’s game, though didn’t specify Carter was involved.
Carter — who is averaging 14.2 points per game this season — did not appear in the game at all after the first quarter, and Dream PR reportedly said it wasn’t due to injury. After the game, Dream interim head coach Mike Petersen gave a cryptic answer about that decision, per Nusbaum:
Now, a day later, Carter is suspended.
Carter had also spent the preceding night fighting it out on Twitter with a person who implied Carter’s conduct was less than above board, another sign of smoke around a now-burning fire.
This is just another chapter in what has been a turbulent stretch for the Dream, who fired general manager Chris Sienko in April and saw previous head coach Nicki Collen leave the team with little warning in May for the Baylor job. Williams has additionally reported brewing discontent in the Atlanta locker room, and we’re all aware of what happened with the team’s ownership in February.
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