In response, the WNBA fined each team $5,000, with each player who wore a shirt receiving a $500 fine.
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Recently, New York players simply wore plain black shirts bearing only the Adidas logo.
The WNBA fined players after they ignored a league memo sent to teams earlier this week reminding them of the uniform policy.
On Thursday, the WNBA fined several players for wearing Black Lives Matter tee shirts and the players from the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever responded by staging a bold boycott. “They live in this society, and they have strong views about how things should be”.
No NBA players wore the “I Can’t Breathe” shirts after Silver’s statements.
Three WNBA teams and their players are reportedly being fined for speaking out over recent violence involving police, and it’s got more than a few people scratching their heads. “I don’t think anyone should be fighting that at this moment”. She reflected on her decision in an Instagram post: “Today, I chose to not be silent in the wake of the @wnba fines against @nyliberty, @indianafever & @phoenixmercury due to our support in the #BlackLivesMatter movement”.
But the NBA and the NFL ― yes, the same NFL that fined players last season for dedicating a small uniform accessory to a dead parent ― decided against punishing its players.
His death and that of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge sparked protests across the country, including a Black Lives Matter march in Dallas that ended in the death of five police officers in a coordinated sniper attack.
However, the big difference is those National Basketball Association players were not fined by the league unlike the WNBA players this week. The fine for wearing the t-shirt is 0 for each player, which given the $40,000 salary for rookies, is a lot of fucking money.
After Thursday morning’s Liberty-Fever game, players from both teams staged a media blackout.
In the meantime, the players said they will find other ways to speak out and support causes off the court in the lead up to the Olympics.
“We really feel like there’s still an issue here in America”, Liberty player Tanisha Wright said.
The T-shirts initially stoked controversy including four police officers leaving their off-duty jobs as security guards to a Minnesota Lynx game because they took offense to what they felt was anti-police rhetoric.
“Seventy percent of the @wnba players are African-American women and as a league collectively impacted”, she wrote.
The league will go on a monthlong Olympic hiatus beginning Saturday but January said players will continue to actively engage in the social discussion. For now they are back to wearing their normal warm ups.
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Ironically, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said at the time that she appreciated the amount of support the team had received, “particularly from the league”. Right? So we want them to hear our voices and support and stand with us and support this as well.
