WNBA’s Alyssa Thomas, Stephanie White call out rising racism, homophobia

After a spirited and physical playoff series against Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever ended, Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas and Coach Stephanie White called for an end to racist and homophobic comments about and directed toward WNBA players, mostly on social media.

The subject arose after Sun guard DiJonai Carrington, who was named the league’s most improved player, posted in an Instagram story a screenshot of an email that contained a racial slur and the threat of sexual assault.

“Honestly, it’s been a lot of nonsense. I think that in my 11-year career I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base,” Thomas said after Connecticut swept the Fever, advancing to a semifinal series against the Minnesota Lynx. " … It’s unacceptable, and honestly there’s no place for it. We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it.

“Basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial names. I mean, we already see what’s happening in the world and what we have to deal with in that aspect. We come to play basketball for our job, and it’s fun, but we don’t want to go to work every day and have social media blown up over things like that.

Interest in the league has skyrocketed with the entrance of Clark, Angel Reese and other rookies who entered the league after high-profile college careers. Clark and the Fever regularly sold out arenas, with their games moved to bigger venues, and were frequently nationally televised. With that attention has come vitriol as well as enthusiasm.

During Wednesday night’s game, a fan briefly was escorted from a courtside seat after Clark complained to officials in the first quarter. Over the summer, Clark denounced fans who use her name to spread an agenda of hate. “Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect,” Clark said. “The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect, so people should not be using my name to push those agendas.”

In Game 1 of the series Sunday, Carrington poked Clark in the eye while playing defense - a moment both players downplayed. Carrington said she was “trying to make a play on the ball,” and even Clark said it “wasn’t intentional by any means.”

Carrington posted on X last month that the Fever “have the nastiest fans in the (WNBA). Ew.” White, the Sun’s coach, said, “we’ve seen a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia throughout the course of our country. Sport is no exception, and it’s unacceptable, to be quite honest.”

WNBA players and the union recently criticized Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for an interview appearance this month in which she did not flatly condemn racist and ugly criticism from fans regarding the rivalry between Clark and Angel Reese. Englebert chose to focus then on the physical nature of their games. “The one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry,” Engelbert said on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”

“That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.”

She later posted a clarification on X, writing, “To be clear, there is absolutely no place for hate or racism of any kind in the WNBA or anywhere else.”

On Wednesday night, after the Fever-Sun game concluded, the league put out a statement saying racism and threats would not be tolerated, adding that league security was monitoring threats and would reach out to law enforcement if necessary.

“The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world,” the statement reads. “While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams and anyone affiliated with the league.”

The commentary intensified as the two Fever-Sun games grew physical and at times chippy.

“It’s a lot of hurtful, hateful speech out there that’s happening, and it’s unacceptable,” Fever Coach Christie Sides said. “This is basketball, and this is their job, and they’re doing the best they can. And when it gets personal to me, there’s no reason for it. These guys have to listen and watch - social media is their life. That’s just what they do. And they have to read and see these things constantly, and just all the stories that are made up of what people see or think they see. It is just not acceptable when it gets personal.”

ESPN analyst Andraya Carter, who played collegiately at Tennessee last decade, said players and coaches she has spoken with have mentioned the rising anger and personal comments. “It’s heartbreaking,” she said on ESPN. " … The excitement around the league is at its highest, but the racial slurs and the derogatory comments and the online bullying are also at their worst.”