“The Liberty first wore shirts with two hashtags “#BlackLivesMatter” and “#Dallas5”, after the Dallas shootings.
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League president Lisa Borders commended their “engagement and passionate advocacy for non-violent solutions to hard social issues” but expected teams to comply with uniform guidelines.
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. “For [Lynx star Rebekkah Brunson] to feel like when you’re going to work and the people around you support you and not just in things that benefit them, it makes you proud to go work for that organization”. “Wearing a standard Adidas shirt, knowing that the WNBA is sponsored by Adidas”.
NY was one of three WNBA teams – along with the Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings – to wear warmup shirts in remembrance of two African American men shot by police and five Dallas police officers shot by a sniper earlier this month.
National Basketball Association players previously have taken a stand in support of victims of police brutality without being fined.
Lynetta Kizer had a career-high 21 points and Marissa Coleman scored 11 of her 14 points during a decisive run to help the Indiana Fever beat the New York Liberty 82-70 on Thursday in the final game for both teams before the Olympic break.
Several WNBA teams and their players were fined by the league after they wore warmups in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and to honor the victims of a series of violent incidents, prompting a media blackout by the players. Tina Charles, the former UConn All-American, did wear her warmup shirt inside out.
The WNBA is abiding by its rules with the fines but it seems like this is an issue that their players won’t be quiet on. Carmelo Anthony spoke out Thursday afternoon before Team USA practice, saying, “I don’t see no reason to fine them. We stand united in supporting Black Lives Matter and so we just really wanted to come out and show our support and win a game”.
Players on the Minnesota Lynx, who edged the Fever in the 2015 WNBA Finals, wore specially-made t-shirts to a game one week ago and not only did it raise awareness – but caused controversy, too. Members of those three teams chose to wore the altered shirts after the league sent out an initial warning to teams against wearing them.
The back of the Lynx’s shirts were emblazoned with the names of Castile and Sterling, and the Dallas Police Department logo and “Black Lives Matter”.
“Through my conversations with players, people need to understand it, as professional athletes we also have hearts”, the Liberty veteran said.
“I think there’s a lot of people in our league who are very passionate about it”.
“Basketball is just basketball – there’s a whole world out there that’s more important than that”.
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Even though the fines may appear to be egregious to some, the blowback from such disciplinary action is drawing further attention to the issues at hand, which should only help the players’ activist efforts in the long run.
