President Lisa Borders also said in her statement that the WNBA does expect players to follow all of the leagues rules and regulations.
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The WNBA got to their senses and chose to rescind the penalties given to the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury for wearing black warmup shirts.
The teams originally faced fines of $5,000 a piece for not complying with league rules on the warmup shirts.
“It’s unfortunate that the WNBA has fined us and not supported its players”, New York Liberty guard Tanisha Wright said during one postgame interview. Many people are now congratulating the WNBA president Lisa Border on her ability to stand up for what’s right for her players. By boycotting their opinions on the game, it made the league look uncomfortable until this decision.
Several WNBA players as well as National Basketball Association players like Carmelo Anthony expressed frustration regarding the fines, including criticism that the players were fined for wearing such apparel while the league handed out shirts in support of victims from the Orlando massacre in June.
New York Liberty center Tina Charles, the most prominent of the players fined, said on Twitter: “I refuse to be silent @WNBA”.
WNBA president Lisa Borders said in a statement Saturday that the league was rescinding penalties given to the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury and their players for wearing the shirts – a uniform violation. He called the penalty “unacceptable”. They say that it’s wonderful that someone can understand the emotions of people living in the sensitive era that we do. Eventually, the Liberty, Fever, and Mercury chose to sport plain black adidas tees as their warm up instead.
“We’re sick and exhausted of waking up every morning and seeing something like this (shootings) happen”, Mystics player Ivory Latta said after her team played its final game before the Olympic break.
Washington Mystics players had shirts saying “Black Lives Matters” in the locker room after their game Friday night.
Several other teams also joined in on wearing the shirts after the fines were levied. “We want to make sure they play well on the court and they are happy off the court”. US coach Geno Auriemma said he was proud of their social activism. But the fines weren’t enough to stop players. The fines were administered Wednesday and neither the Fever nor Liberty wore the shirts at their matinee game on Thursday.
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The league was still undecided on whether Charles would be fined. With this, I’m really proud of the players standing strong and for utilizing their voices. The players were not fined for their actions. “I want them to understand we’re here to support them”.
