Now that All-Star Weekend is officially over, teams are gearing up for the second half of the season. Most of the award races will come down to the final week of the season, but the closest race might be the Sixth Woman of the Year race. Here are some of the leading candidates and their cases for the award.
DiJonai Carrington (Connecticut Sun):
Despite losing Jonquel Jones this summer and Brionna Jones last month to an Achilles injury, the Connecticut Sun have been just fine and DiJonai Carrington has emerged as one of the team’s most valuable players. Averaging just under nine points and three rebounds, Carrington is shooting a career-best 39 percent from three, and although it is on very few attempts, it makes a big difference when she plays off the ball with a great passer like Alyssa Thomas.
One of the most underrated parts of Carrington’s game is her movement off the ball. In Connecticut’s last game before the All-Star break against the Chicago Sky, Carrington flashed her off-ball abilities. Here, Marina Mabrey over-commits to the incoming DeWanna Bonner screen. Carrington senses this and flashes backdoor, and Alyssa Thomas finds her for an uncontested layup. The cut makes Mabrey spin the opposite way.
DiJonai Carrington senses Mabrey overplaying her so she…
