WNBA fans might have forgotten what leadership sounds like.
There have been plenty of empty, unfeeling statements as the league has grown and players have borne the ugliest costs of its mainstream attention.
Stephanie White’s was a reminder.
The Fever coach opened her news conference Wednesday by addressing the harassment Mercury star Alyssa Thomas has received since her flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark.
White had already called the no-call on the play “egregious.” The league later upgraded the foul to a Flagrant 2 and suspended Thomas one game. Thomas called the contact accidental.
Since then, Thomas said she and her family have received death threats, that she has been targeted with racial slurs and that she and her teammates have been “painted as thugs.”
The moment brought several recurring WNBA tensions together.
1. There is still a clear lack of trust in officiating from coaches and players, even after the league announced changes.
2. Thomas has a reputation as one of the league’s most physical players.
3. Anything that happens to Clark is sensitive.
4. Black players have increasingly faced harassment in recent years, especially when they are viewed as standing opposite Clark.
The first three threads are complicated and worthy of debate. The harassment should not be.
Speaking before Fever practice Wednesday, White condemned it.
“Before we start with questions, I just want to address what’s going on with AT,” White said. “First and foremost, it’s absolutely unacceptable. As a league as a whole, there’s been so much more toxicity, racism, homophobia. Straight-out nonsense. Hate nonsense. It is absolutely unacceptable.
“Most of this coming from the online community. Most of this, in my heart of hearts, I believe not coming from WNBA fans, Indiana Fever fans. I believe this is people who are using our league, using our players to further divisive agendas. It’s not acceptable.”
White went on to acknowledge that basketball is going to come with criticism, and that fans have a “love-hate relationship” with players and teams.
“But it’s not hard to not be a jerk,” she said. “If you are one of these people who are online doing this, do not call yourself a WNBA fan.”
The statement carried weight partly because of who White is. She played from 1999 to 2004, when the WNBA was still fighting for oxygen, and understands what is at stake now that the league is finally mainstream.
She also acknowledged that her belief that the hateful rhetoric is not coming from “real” WNBA fans could be privileged or naive.
That was the right instinct. Good leadership leaves room for other voices, especially the ones closer to the harm.
Reacting to White’s comments after Sky practice Wednesday, Elizabeth Williams, a veteran leader in the players union, said WNBA fans are not immune from the darker parts of the discourse.
“There are definitely W fans that are going to get sucked into these narratives just by the nature of social media,” Williams told the Sun-Times.
Still, Williams agreed that much of the prejudice comes from people outside the league’s actual fan base.
“There are a lot of people that have never watched us play and have come up with their ideas of who we are without actually knowing or watching,” she said. “I just think it’s very interesting that it’s with us, with a league of mostly Black women. Because I think there are a lot of people that don’t like certain sports, but don’t treat them like they’re ‘less than.’”
The WNBA’s demographics — majority Black, female and very queer — have made it a target as it has moved deeper into the mainstream. But that also gives the league its culture and tradition.
White’s statement did not shy away from that.
“Our league is about inclusiveness,” she said. “Our league is about competition. Our league is about elevating women, elevating marginalized communities and being inclusive of all walks of life. That is what our league has always been about from day one. That is what our league will continue to be about.”
For once: enough said.
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Source: Chicago Sun-Times
