Former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams is hoping to get a WNBA franchise in Boston, whether it's through expansion or being a destination for a current team that wants to move.
He's part of the Boston Women's Basketball Partners group that is spearheading the initiative. The group hasn't submitted a bid to the WNBA, although it has talked with the company the league hired to handle the expansion bids process.
"The main objective is to get a team in Boston," Carter-Williams said in a phone interview Thursday. "It doesn't matter if it's an expansion team or a team that wants to sell and move to Boston."
Carter-Williams said his group has all its "ducks in a row" when it comes to where a team would play and practice. Now, he said, it just needs a franchise.
Boston hosted a sold-out WNBA game last year when the Connecticut Sun played a contest at TD Garden -- home of the Boston Celtics. Another regular-season game will be played at TD Garden this year when Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever take on the Sun.
Carter-Williams said his group would "absolutely" be interested if the Sun were up for sale. But that's a big if since it seems there has been no discussion about the Mohegan Tribe selling the team.
"It's something we would consider, but there's not too much noise going on right now," Carter-Williams said. "We want to be the most prepared for any option."
The deadline to submit an expansion bid was Jan. 30, so acquiring a current team would be the most direct path for his group to have a WNBA franchise in Boston.
The WNBA has already announced three expansion teams that will start play over the next two years, with Golden State beginning this season and Toronto and Portland starting in 2026. The league has said it would add a 16th team to begin play in 2028.
Several cities already have submitted bids, including Philadelphia; Cleveland; Detroit; Kansas City, Missouri; Houston; and Nashville, Tennessee, and there is a chance the WNBA could go beyond 16 teams sooner rather than later.