NBA: Carmelo Anthony Speaks Out On The WNBA Fining Players & Teams For Supporting Black Lives Matter

Earlier this week, three WNBA teams, The New York Liberty, Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury were fined $5,000 each by the league for their “protest” in support of black lives matter. All the players did was wear black warm up shirts in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers. The shirts, which also led to some players also being fined individually, were not only in support of black lives matter. They also paid respect to the police officers in Dallas who lost their lives when they were ambushed by a gunman. The players don’t understand why they were punished and neither does Carmelo Anthony, who spoke out about it yesterday.

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“What’s most upsetting is the way it was handled,” Indiana Fever player rep Briann January said. “You have a league that is 90 — if not above 90% African American — and you have an issue that is directly affecting them and the people they know and you have a league that isn’t willing to side with them.

The league is hiding behind the “uniform policy” as reason for the fines but we all know that’s a bunch of nonsense. Players were quick to point out they were give shirts by the league to wear after the tragedy in Orlando, where almost 50 people lost their lives when a man who pledged his loyalty to ISIS, opened fire inside of Pulse nightclub.

“We were OK with that, we wanted to support that, but also they can’t pick and choose what initiatives to support and what not to support just because it doesn’t push their agenda,” Liberty guard Tanisha Wright said. “This is important to us”.

Melo, who has put himself on the forefront of social issues, is upset with the response by the WNBA, which is run by the NBA itself.

“I don’t see no reason to fine them,’’ Anthony said before Thursday’s U.S. Olympic team practice at UNLV. “If anything you should want to support them. I don’t know details, but don’t see a reason to fine them.”

“A bunch of teams did it,” Anthony continued. “Everyone has their own freedom of speech if they decide to use the platform. I don’t see no reason for anybody to get fined. We did it [3 ¹/₂ years ago after the Trayvon Martin shooting]. The NBA did it. The NBA was very supportive. I don’t see any difference in this matter. Right now the players have a very strong stance in what they believe in right now. I don’t think anyone should be fighting that at this moment.”

This is a blatant move by the WNBA to censor their players, which would be more understandable if this was always their position but like the players mentioned, it seems the league wants to pick and choose what cause to support and they simply can’t do that and expect people to believe that they support their players.