WNBA players say the troubling side of the rise is racism and threats

With the WNBA reaching huge viewership and attendance numbers this season, players say the long-coveted boom in women’s basketball has had unfortunate consequences. During these playoffs, athletes who would normally be focused on winning instead shared a wave of complaints that they were the targets of racist, misogynistic, homophobic and threatening attacks.

The increase in harassment has taken a mental toll, according to players. Some wonder how the league has handled their well-being as it has managed to generate an influx of attention that followed the college stardom of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese into the pros.

A few players have taken more drastic steps, deactivating some of their social media accounts or severely limiting their involvement, despite the clear and often critical revenue potential that comes from marketing directly to fans.

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner said fans have called her and others racial taunts. Reese said AI-generated nude photos of her are circulating online.

Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington shared on Instagram an explicit email sent to her containing threats of violence and a racial slur, following a moment during the first game of the playoffs in which Carrington accidentally opened one of Clark’s eyes stung. Carrington’s partner, NaLyssa Smith, who plays with Clark on the Indiana Fever, wrote on X that Carrington has even been followed.

Alyssa Thomas said she and her Sun teammates faced some of the most intense racist bullying she’s encountered in 11 WNBA seasons when they faced the Fever and ended Clark’s rookie season.

“With more exposure we’re seeing more of those people come out and say their words online,” Sky forward Brianna Turner said. “They talk the talk, but I highly doubt they watch any games or content. They are just there to spread hate and be trashy online while not caring about what happens in the WNBA or any players.”

You can clown me all you want, I will never stop advocating for players to be respected. With respect, feel free to mute or block if that’s a trigger for you. Please protect your peace

— Brianna Turner (@_Breezy_Briiii) September 22, 2024

The disturbing reports are at odds with the welcoming atmosphere that the league and its players — the majority of whom are Black and many in the LGBTQ+ community — have tried to create over the past three decades. As it has fought for financial stability and credibility with the media and fans since its founding in 1996, the WNBA has increasingly viewed itself as a haven for inclusivity.

Some players say the environment has been tainted by new factions of fans who are poisoning the sport and treating the WNBA and its players as fodder for culture war arguments during a polarizing period in American society.

“I appreciate the new eyes,” said Sky forward Isabelle Harrison. “But if this is accompanied by hatred and bigotry and racism and even if people who look like me are bashing me, keep it offline because it’s so hurtful, and you don’t know how that will affect people.”

That dimension has added complexity to the developing game and rivalry between Clark, who is white, and Reese, who is black. Clark won Rookie of the Year honors and guided the Fever to the playoffs. Reese’s season ended in early September with a wrist injury, but not until she had already set WNBA records for consecutive double-doubles and rebounds in a season.

Fever Up Aliyah Boston said some people are just opportunistic. “It’s easy to attach yourself to Fever because we have a lot of attention around us at the moment, and it’s so easy to say, ‘Well, I’m a Fever fan, I’m an AB fan, I’m a Caitlin being a fan and just hating that – and that’s never okay,” she said.

Tension rose early this season when some fans and sports commentators accused veteran WNBA players of being jealous of Clark’s stardom and claimed she was being targeted in games. While that idea was widely rejected by players, fouls on Clark quickly became a hot topic to debate – with conversations veering into personal insults or worse.

A Chicago Tribune op-ed likened a hard foul on Clark by Sky guard Chennedy Carter to a “strike,” and an Indiana congressman wrote an open letter to the WNBA commissioner expressing his grievances about the foul. Charles Barkley blasted WNBA players for being “petty” and “jealous” of Clark’s popularity, while Sheryl Swoopes repeatedly appeared to downplay Clark’s accolades. ESPN personality Pat McAfee apologized for calling Clark a “White b–” on his show during a segment in which he mused about her stardom and her race.

“It is disheartening that we are losing the conversation about the skills of these players and that it is being overshadowed by the politicized nature of their presence,” said Ajhanai Keaton, assistant professor of sports management at UMass Amherst.

Clark’s control throughout the season often went beyond her play and her comments on games.

Her social media presence is mostly limited to retweets of Iowa and Fever posts, and some of her sharing content from her commercial sponsors. She recently caused a stir by liking an Instagram post from Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala Harris for president, although Clark did not formally endorse Harris herself and simply encouraged voting in the November presidential election when asked to explain her action .

She denounced the use of her name to spread divisive agendas online, calling it “disappointing” and “unacceptable.” “They are not fans,” she said on Friday. “Those are trolls, and it’s a real disservice to the people of our league, the organization, the WNBA.”

Yet much of the conversation continues regardless of her participation.

“She’s trying to get her bearings and develop her game and take her game to the next level and be on a bigger stage,” New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones said earlier this season. ‘And she handles it really well. It’s the fanbase going crazy and turning it into a race war and all that other stuff.”

The league released a statement last week condemning the online harassment of players. But commissioner Cathy Engelbert previously faced criticism, including from the players’ association, for praising the league’s rivalry when asked in a CNBC interview about “threatening” comments players received.

“The League should have taken a stand a long time ago, and not waited for it to go so deep, and go so far on what will and will not be tolerated,” Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu said.

Sun guard DiJonai Carrington said she has been the target of threatening messages this season. (Elsa/Getty)

Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray, when asked how the league could have protected players all season, said, “Probably make a statement before what they did.”

The WNBA’s recent statement mentions calling in law enforcement when necessary to protect players. The league monitors online threats and works with teams and arenas on security issues, and with local law enforcement as necessary. It uses security in every market to help players. All 12 teams also have special security who travel with them to matches.

The Chicago Sky has introduced a partnership this season with an app company that uses AI to prevent players from seeing negative messages about them directly on their phones. Before the start of the season, the WNBA provided information and resources to players about mental health as part of a routine annual meeting.

Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, who said she reported some messages to team officials, wants the league to hold more sessions aimed at dealing with internet harassment. “There could probably be more training,” she said. “What should you do if you receive these messages?”

Some players said they deleted social media apps – especially X – to avoid attacks, but that could come at a cost. Endorsement deals often depend on online engagement with fans. A strong social media following can become an important source of income. That’s especially important in a league with an average player salary of about $110,000 this season, according to HerHoopStats — a figure well below what most male professional athletes earn in the top North American leagues.

Sparks guard Zia Cooke said she deactivated her X account earlier this season to avoid negative comments, but remained on TikTok and Instagram for potential additional income. “If it were really up to me, I would deactivate all my accounts just because I’m trying to stay mentally locked up when it comes to basketball and finding my way in this game,” she said.

Boston said she deleted some of her social media accounts to avoid vitriolic criticism as the Fever started 1-8 this season.

The spread of legalized sports betting in the United States has also become an occasion for fans to send angry messages to WNBA players. Dream wing Rhyne Howard said she has received threatening messages about “ruining random parlays” after poor performances, a complaint also heard in the men’s competitions.

But often, WNBA players said, attacks against them feel much more personal, targeting their racial and sexual identities rather than their basketball skills.

“Our world is so polarized based on race,” said Professor Ketra Armstrong, director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity in Sport at the University of Michigan. “When people talk about race, whiteness is often privileged, and when they talk about gender, masculinity is privileged. This is not unique to the sport, this is not unique to Caitlin Clark. It is the way of life in the world and it has been that way in every area, whether it is in politics, whether it is in business, whether it is social movements and civil rights.”

Reese, who has more than 4 million followers on Instagram and more than 600,000 on X, has maintained a steady stream of engagement even as she has faced frequent criticism. She said she has to take a break from social media every now and then to avoid vitriol and relies on strong support from those around her.

“We’re still human,” Reese said, adding, “Sometimes we need to step away.”

— The athletic’s Grace Raynor and Sabreena Merchant contributed to this report.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletics; Photo: iStock)