New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu has fumed at the WNBA for not broadcasting Angel Reese's Chicago Sky debut on League Pass, as a fan's live stream got nearly a whopping million views on social media.
Reese and Kamilla Cardoso - another highly rated, first-round 2024 Draft pick - were widely watched on a X livestream from a fan - @heyheyitsalli - who stepped in when the league's app couldn't broadcast the game on Friday.
Reese and Cardoso played in their first preseason game for the Sky in a 92-81 loss to the Minnesota Lynx.
The WNBA's app had incorrectly listed the game as available to watch, leading to confusion from fans before the league clarified that only Caitlin Clark's debut with the Indiana Fever was being broadcast.
'I mean, it sucks,' Ionescu said at the Liberty's Media Day on Saturday, as 2,000 fans showed up for the team's open practice to the public. 'I think representation of every team is important. ... Hopefully, the league can fix that because I think they dropped the ball on that part and hopefully they have a great explanation as to why that wasn't televised. But hats off to the person that just figured it out.'
Sabrina Ionesco said the WNBA 'dropped the ball' on its decision to not stream the Chicago Sky-Minnesota Lynx game on Friday, considering that the matchup was Angel Reese's debut
lynx vs sky preseason game!! https://t.co/fOHriWWcVV
— alli (@heyheyitsalli) May 4, 2024
Viewership numbers on the livestream varied, but on Saturday the video showed about 800,000 total views, according to The Athletic.
'Y'all these are some of THE WILDEST numbers WOW,' the user tweeted.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was asked about the stream after the game. She said @heyheyitsalli deserves 'three bucks' per viewer.
'Anybody that watched it should send three bucks to the person, I don't even know who it is,' Reeve said. 'I think that what I would say is that the growth is happening so fast. It's so accelerated. And I've been saying this in our own organization - that business as usual isn't going to work anymore.
'You're gonna get left behind and this is an example.'
Cheryl Reeve had some good post game remarks on the decision NOT to stream Sky-Lynx game. Watch entire clip.
— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) May 4, 2024
"Growth is happening so fast.. Business as usual is not going to work anymore. You're going to get left behind & this is an example of it." #WNBA 🎥 @minnesotalynx pic.twitter.com/VIYfrzUteD
Reeve said she understands that Clark's game would be broadcast and is 'all for that.'
'People want to see that, but they also want to see, you know, it's not just about Caitlin,' Reeve said. 'This isn't Caitlin's fault in any way. It's more, you know, the recognition that there's general excitement about the WNBA in ways that we haven't seen before. And so we have to capitalize to really ensure that this is a movement.'
Reese finished the game with 13 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. Cardoso had six points and four rebounds in 13 minutes.
Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said she was pleased with the rookies' debuts.
'This is a learning process for all of us. ... And we're going through that process in the right way,' she said. 'We got our leaders leading them, pulling them along. Keeping them confident. That's what matters. So we're in a great place and they're in a hell of a great place.'
