After years of being mostly ignored, the WNBA suddenly finds itself at the center of the sports world. And it’s for all the “wrong” reasons.
For a league that’s never turned a profit, or even really come close, the WNBA received an incredible gift with Caitlin Clark. Fan interest in seeing Clark led to an influx of revenue, viewership, and merchandise sales, to the point where the players were able to bargain for better benefits and perks, making their quality of life significantly better. All thanks to one player.
It’s no secret that most of the league, from coaches, staff, other players, and even the commissioner, hate her for it. Even though Clark has done her best to avoid offending anyone’s sensibilities or make controversial comments, she’s among the most despised players in the sport. Because, as has been extensively covered, of jealousy and the fact that many associate her fans with being on the political right.
Clark’s teammate, Sophie Cunningham, has taken a bit of a different approach. She publicly stated recently that she does not want male athletes competing in the WNBA or other levels of girls’ sports. An eminently reasonable position shared by the overwhelming majority of the American public. For having that opinion and sharing it, she immediately became public enemy number one across the league.
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Opposing players lined up to wear shirts opposing her and supporting transgender athletes. So did several opposing coaches. Her own coach said she wasn’t educated about the differences between men and women in athletics. A Seattle Storm co-owner was suspended for angrily confronting and berating a Cunningham supporter. One player went on camera to say she’d welcome a male athlete in the WNBA to compete with or against. Apparently not realizing that enough male athletes joining the WNBA would end with her being replaced.
There are now anti-Sophie Cunningham rallies at stadiums. The Storm’s social media account openly celebrated a player opposing Cunningham’s remarks. Many of the WNBA’s sycophantic “media” figures that cover their games have joined in to criticize her. After years of the WNBA being ignored, the hysterical reaction to an obvious, common-sense position has made it into a laughingstock.
All of this seemingly boiled over this weekend when Cunningham was leveled by Chicago Sky forward DiJonai Carrington. Unquestionably a dirty play, completely unnecessary contact that left Cunningham with a bloodied face. Carrington was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game, a rare correct call from the league’s officials, then took it upon herself to demonstrate beautifully why the WNBA is rarely taken seriously.
Instead of taking responsibility and admitting mistakes, Carrington posted “white privilege” from the locker room, and tagged the Indiana Fever. Perfection. And as if there were any doubt about the meaning of the play and the foul, Cunningham cleared it up afterward.
“Clearly, I think it was like unnecessary. I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent up stuff. So get your s— off. That’s fine. I can take it … Yeah, it’s intentional,” she said after the game.
So because Carrington dislikes Cunningham for having different political views, she, at least in Cunningham’s view, intentionally tried to hurt her. Then blamed white privilege for being ejected afterward. One former ESPN anchor said that Cunningham should have been ejected, not Carrington. Cunningham’s own coach defended Carrington, saying she’s just a tough physical player, while Clark sat next to her, failing to hide her contempt for White’s answer.
“Yeah, I mean, look, it was a hard foul. I don’t think that DiJonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did. But it did happen and I thought it was the right call,” White said. “But you know, one of the things about Nay is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man. She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don’t oppose the hard foul. But I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM SPEAKS OUT AGAINST DIJONAI CARRINGTON AFTER FLAGRANT FOUL AND ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’ POST
We all know why Carrington committed the foul, and why White defended her. And yet the WNBA wonders why people don’t take it seriously. Partially because that’s just the start of the league’s problems in recent weeks.
Taking advantage of the WNBA’s insistence that defining women is unacceptable or racist or something, several former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, announced their intention to enter the 2027 WNBA draft. After all, if self-identification is enough to make someone a woman, who’s to say that Freedom and White aren’t now women too? The WNBA Players Association, after all, just released a statement saying they remain committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.
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Biology is offensive. Women are an amorphous concept that cannot possibly be defined. Trans rights are human rights. Inclusion is the highest form of virtue. That all being the accepted case in the WNBA, what possible argument can there by against allowing these two beautiful, athletic women from living out their dreams, furthering their lived experiences, and playing in the WNBA?
All of these issues and incidents, embarrassing though they might be for an organization that takes itself seriously, is a predictable outcome for a league that works tirelessly to prove it doesn’t take itself seriously.
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The WNBA has spent years telling anyone who would listen, and there weren’t many who would, outside of left-wing sports media, that they were proudly political. They celebrated public expressions of political activism. As long as it focused on one side of the debate. They made DEI an integral part of the league’s process. They refused to acknowledge that Clark was the league’s biggest star, and now have taken an openly antagonistic view toward Cunningham.
Just imagine the reaction if Caitlin Clark, or Cunningham for that matter, made a similar remark about Carrington. Or A’ja Wilson. Or Angel Reese. Carrington may well receive some discipline from the league, but imagine the widespread outrage from WNBA media, players, coaches, and league staff if the situation was reversed?
Everyone knows what that would look and sound like. Everyone knows where the WNBA stands politically. And this is where it leads.
There’s an old saying, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” That might be true even here, to an extent, considering more viewers may tune in to see what behavior comes next. But how the league has handled Clark, Cunningham, trans athletes and the Carrington is exactly what you’d expect from an organization that’s made left-wing politics its core guiding principle.
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The WNBA hasn’t focused on the quality of play, making clear, common sense rules around who is eligible for the league, or elevating its biggest star. Because it can’t. That would take away from its one true mission: political activism around left-wing causes.
Admitting that males shouldn’t play in the women’s professional league would lead to criticism and anger from the left. Making public statements rebuking some players for their targeted retribution toward Clark and Cunningham would mean acknowledging that there is a problem in the first place. That inclusion should mean of viewpoint too, not just race.
They can’t strongly condemn Carrington, because what she said aligns with their political beliefs.
If you want to be seen as a legitimate major sports league, not just the NBA’s money-losing wellness company side project, you have to take yourselves seriously and put dispassionate common sense first. But dispassionate common sense is not what left-wing ideology breeds. So instead we get NBA players entering the draft, well within the league’s rules. We get Carrington bloodying a player’s mouth, only to see that player’s coach excuse it, we get social media teams celebrating protests against Cunningham, and we get every conversation focused on the cultural aspect of the sport.
It’s the perfect example of why politics shouldn’t be ingrained with sports in 2026. The bigger issue? That because it’s the WNBA, it’s a near-certainty they’ll learn nothing from it and never change. That’s what happens when you put politics first.
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