The WNBA gets all of our attention, but I just want to look away right now. A league of powerful women — Caitlin Clark exploring the boundaries of the game like an abstract painter, Olivia Miles personifying the rebirth of the polished, Breanna Stewart pulling new tricks from her offensive arsenal, A’ja Wilson changing into the GOAT nightly — is less like a sport and more like keg powder.
It turned into a rinse and repeat drama.
The black player ties up the white player and it’s time to move. The ejection follows, and the expelled player, unfortunately, finds her phone immediately posts on topicsand we shudder. Then the predictable trend of rants on social media apps and morning shows.
The WNBA has proven it can hold our eyes since the “Caitlin Clark Effect” introduced new audiences to the game and generated blockbuster ratings. However, with more and more moments like Saturday’s blowout between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky, it’s getting bitter.
And what is “it”?
It’s every politician looking for votes from the jet stream of Clark’s fame, every troll who couldn’t tell Chelsea Gray from Allisha Gray but suddenly has a hot view of the league. It’s a conversation, a trap really, that hasn’t grown between black and white, conservative versus liberal, straight versus gay.
More than any other sports fan base, the new and broader audience consuming the WNBA craves the simple and humorous. Nature’s wallowing in mud may never change as long as humans rule this planet. But while there are enough factions at odds against the most popular and prosperous women’s professional sports league in the country, the W players — the ones who are supposed to be guarding their wares — are falling into a trap. Sometimes, willingly.
Fever Keeper by Sophie Cunningham deciding to tackle the divisive topic of transgender athletes in women’s sport, grossly overstating the “problem” and opening the floodgates to a flood of agitators to pollute the discussion.
It’s Sky guard DiJonai Carrington, carelessly throwing matches into the already incendiary discourse of race post “WHITE PRIVILEGE” after being ejected for her flagrant foul on Cunningham.
The striker is Phoenix Mercury Alyssa Thomas’ fist to Clark’s neckSeattle Storm co-owner of Celeste Keaton’s F-bomb aimed at two teenage fans. It’s a hoarding whenever anything like these events happen.
Sports are supposed to be a diversion, something we think of as fun, an escape from real life, but it seems like psychological warfare only about the WNBA. It’s getting to the point where you have to prepare to pounce every time “WNBA” comes up in the algorithm.
Although the league now enjoys big audiences, like ABC’s 2.52 million average viewers for the Fever-Minnesota Lynx game on Aug. 2, the chaos engulfing the sport is in danger of alienating die-hards and shutting out interventionists.
Remember during their rookie seasons when Angel Reese clapped gleefully after Clark absorbed a flagrant foul by Chennedy Carter, and it became a whole thing? That was child’s play compared to the cesspool that has become daily WNBA discourse.
Let’s start with this truth: Cunningham has every right to stand by her belief that transgender women should not be allowed to compete with biological women. She has 10 toes, and to be sure, as do 79 percent of Americans who share her opinionaccording to a New York Times/Ipsos survey. And Indiana, the state where Cunningham plays, was one of the first to pass a law banning transgender girls from playing sports in public schools — meaning the issue barely affects the young girls who come to Fever games to cheer on her in No. 8 jerseys. Nor has it risen to the level of a national crisis since. institutions like the NCAAThe United States Tennis Association and the Olympics have eligibility rules. There’s also the fact that no transgender women even compete in the WNBA, making this an argument largely based on a hypothetical scenario.
Still, since Cunningham plays in a league supported by the LGBTQIA+ community, her opinion against the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports has caused irony and amusement among those who want to ignite this culture war. Now we have former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White mockingly declaring their eligibility for the WNBA draft. These far-right flamethrowers, these attention-hungry retirees, these frivolous stuntmen are only here to decry the theory of inclusivity and mock the women of this league. Please let me off this ride.
Then there’s Carrington, who knocked Cunningham down in the air. Although Carrington previously had confusion with ClarkCunningham’s teammate, when solid defense and haphazard facial moves made Carrington a target, no one can know her intentions on Saturday. Keeping her focus on that moment alone, her foul on Cunningham was unnecessary and could have been dangerous. But Carrington’s post on social media after the offense was even more unnecessary and far more dangerous.
Makayla Timpson, the Indiana Fever center affectionately known as “KK,” started against the Sky and played decent enough to join her superstar teammate and coach Stephanie White in the postgame media session. The opening line of questioning for the trio focused on Carrington’s flagrant foul. When the reporter began his question about Carrington’s social media post, Timpson heard the words “White privilege” and reacted by widening her eyes and looking to her left. Then she covered her face and rubbed her temple, probably hoping to avoid the comment.
KK, girl. Your expression said it best.
We could all walk away without seeing Carrington’s immediate thoughts after her expulsion. But she allowed herself to be accused of playing the race “card”, as Cunningham called it. It also made it more unsustainable for her African-American peers to face legitimate bias.
Carrington, a black woman who has been in same-sex relationships in the WNBA, is exactly the kind of punching bag for the most disadvantaged faction of new fans. After those confrontations with Clark years ago, Carrington was called anything but a child of God on social media. She really experienced racism and homophobia. But on Saturday, she undermined the phrase “white privilege” — reducing it from a legitimate social concern for people who look like her to a mocking far-right chant.
These moments are not only problematic; they overshadow the positives, like Kayla McBride lighting up the net for a career-high 10 3s, the young Washington Mystics overcoming their doubters with seven straight wins and Jessica Shepard emerging as a triple-double revelation in Dallas. In certain doses, train wrecks and container fires can be juicy. Even fun to watch. However, the constant round of arguments can wear down the audience. Eventually, the tension takes its toll, and the WNBA will have to pay the price.
