Players ‘Begging’ WNBA Commissioner to Take Action After Getting Death Threats
Newsweek · C · trust 42/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. There’s no question the relationship between WNBA players and their fans has been complicated over the last few years.
Some players have been subjected to verbal abuse and threats in arenas from fans of opposing teams, but things appear to be reaching a place where some form of intervention is needed.
And the vitriol isn’t just coming from fans now either. According to Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud, things are so bad now that players are being threatened by sports bettors.
Player safety is becoming a growing concern because of this, prompting some players to “beg” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert to do something about it, according to Colin Salao of Front Office Sports.
“I’m called a [expletive], I’m called [the n word], I’m called everything under the sun,” Cloud told FOS . “I’ve been told that they hope that our plane crashes on the way home.”
This isn’t the first time WNBA players have been subjected to verbal abuse of received death threats even this year. Just days ago, a Hilton Grand Vacations employee was fired after Las Vegas Aces star Chelsea Gray exposed a message containing a racial slur from that employee on Instagram.
“People act like we just make this [expletive] up,” Gray posted. “And the audacity to tell us as athletes to ‘shut up and dribble.’”
Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas also received death threats last month after getting into an on-court scuffle with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, which led to Thomas publicly calling Engelbert out to do something about it.
Because these issues are becoming more commonplace throughout the league, there’s mounting pressure on Engelbert and the rest of the WNBA front office to do something about it.
“I think as one of the main faces of our league, too, it creates a dialogue that needs to be had,” Cloud continued. “It puts pressure on Cathy, who we’ve been begging to step up for us in these spaces.
“Now I think it demands her to actually take some initiative and to do something about it. I don’t know what it is that she’s going to do, but I also think that simple statements of not condoning [expletive] is also really good for public relations as well.”
Sky forward Elizabeth Williams, who’s also the secretary of the WNBPA, confirmed to Front Office Sports that “player leadership has scheduled a meeting with Engelbert ahead of WNBA All-Star weekend next week, when one of the priorities will be addressing player security.”
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