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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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The WNBA made a significant scheduling move to accommodate the Atlanta Dream playing Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at home on Thursday, as the game was placed in a surprising time slot.
Instead of playing in a nighttime slot, the game will occur at 12:30 p.m. ET so that the Dream can host their must-win game against the Golden State Valkyries. The unusual start time stems from a scheduling conflict at State Farm Arena, where the NBA's Atlanta Hawks are scheduled to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night.
During a recent NBA broadcast on USA, basketball legend and current analyst Tracy McGrady gave his take on the situation. He made it clear that he felt the Hawks needed to play their game at 12:30 p.m. ET rather than having the WNBA use that slot.
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"Why can't we have a seven o'clock, primetime game?" McGrady asked before suggesting, "The Hawks need to be playing at 12:30, straight up."
"Hawks, make your game 12:30; WNBA should be seven o'clock primetime. What we doing?" he asked as the NBA halftime show went to commercial break.
Commenters reacted to an X post that shared T-Mac's gripe, with many calling out the NBA legend for failing to realize why the Hawks can't play their game earlier on Thursday.
"The Hawks are on a back to back there is no feasible way to have them play at 1230 lol what are we talking about here," someone commented.
"I don’t know who T-Mac is but he must not understand how the CBA works. You cannot have the Cavs playing two games in 15 hours," one commenter replied.
"Have you heard of a CBA? The hawks can’t do that because of the CBA. Best they can do is push their game back like they are doing. This isn’t the hawks or NBA’s fault," another commenter said.
Others commented, "Tmac has never had a good take," and "Tmac don’t know the CBA rules either."
On Wednesday night, the Hawks host the Miami Heat at 7 p.m. ET. Atlanta's opponent for Thursday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers, also host a game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET against the Washington Wizards.
According to The Athletic, NBA rules specify that teams have at least 22 hours between scheduled back-to-back games.
Some critical commenters responded to T-Mac's take by suggesting the Dream should've figured things out months ago. However, the Dream issued an open letter to Atlanta indicating that they had raised concerns earlier about the availability of an appropriately sized venue.
According to ESPN, the Dream stated, "our concerns did not receive the attention, nor the urgency that they deserved" when they continued to mention issues with venue scheduling as the WNBA postseason continued.
It's an unfortunate situation, as the Dream now face elimination at home. They'll still get to use the larger State Farm Arena, which has hosted all their postseason games, but during midday, when many people who would want to watch or attend might be working.
However, with the Golden State Valkyries one win away from capturing their first-ever WNBA championship, they might be celebrating in the early afternoon rather than during primetime.
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