The Connecticut Sun advanced to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive season with an 87-81 victory over the Indiana Fever in Game 2 of their first-round series on Wednesday night. After the win, Alyssa Thomas called out the behavior of Fever fans this season, particularly on social media.
Here are the comments from Thomas, who led the Sun with 19 points, five rebounds and 13 assists:
“Honestly, it’s been a lot of nonsense. In my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments from the Indiana Fever fan base… It’s unacceptable, 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 gonna degrade us and call us racial names. We already see what’s happening in the world and what we have to deal with in that aspect and 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. It’s uncalled for and something needs to be done, whether it’s them checking their fans, or this league checking it. There’s no time for it anymore.”
Shortly after the final buzzer of Game 2 between the Sun and Fever, the WNBA released a statement regarding fan conduct. It read:
“The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world. 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. League security is actively monitoring threat-related activity and will work directly with teams and arenas to take appropriate measure, to include involving law enforcement, as necessary.”
At publication time, the WNBA had not yet responded to a request for comment regarding the specific context of that statement.
Earlier Wednesday, Sun guard Dijonai Carrington, who was named this season’s Most Improved Player, made a post on Instagram in which she shared a screenshot of a vulgar and dangerous threat she received.
Sun coach Stephanie White called the abuse her players have faced “unacceptable” and called on the media to do a better job with how they cover the league and potential controversial incidents.
“We in the media have to do a better job of not allowing trolls in social media to become the story,” White said. “I feel like we have allowed trolls in social media to frame the narrative of what the story is. And it’s unacceptable.”
The Sun will begin the semifinals on Sunday against either the Minnesota Lynx or Phoenix Mercury. Game 1 of that series is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
