When Tyler Perry leading lady Crystal Renee took center stage at State Farm Arena to sing the national anthem before the Atlanta Dream’s WNBA finals clash with the Golden State Valkyries on Saturday afternoon, a smattering of photographers, game officials and event security took their familiar places around her as the capacity crowd stood for the flag. The teams, as is now customary, spent that time in their locker rooms. As soon as the lights went back up, the teams returned to the floor to resume their shootarounds.
Anyone genuinely invested in the finals would have been unfazed by them briefly stepping away – if they remembered it at all after the Valkyries’ 67-62 win tied the series at two games apiece. But for many watching the game, basketball is beside the point. Seven years ago, Jay-Z declared that the culture had “moved past kneeling” and similar national anthem protests, seemingly sounding the death knell for an era of sports activism that had helped raise awareness of racial disparities as a broader social movement gathered force.
The line cemented his partnership with the NFL as the league bowed to political pressure to crack down on anthem protests, with other major US sports eventually following the NFL’s lead. But rightwing media and politicians never got the memo. They’re still making sports a battleground for patriotism, with basketball as the war’s chief casualty.
Credit OutKick, Fox’s renegade sports arm, for providing the spark that reignited the right’s outrage machine. They tipped off the WNBA finals by making a story out of Atlanta and Golden State leaving the court during the national anthem, then amplified the indignation aimed at LeBron James for appearing to practice his golf swing during the anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers game that same week. That was all the scene-setting Donald Trump needed.
I think you should do the same thing with women’s basketball,” Trump said. In a Truth Social post, he called James a “disgrace” and demanded he “apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!” Basketball has grown accustomed to this kind of punching down from the White House and the familiar cycle of provocation and outrage, especially when the administration’s poll numbers are dragging. James dismissed Trump’s diss as a sign of a “slow news day at the office” and the WNBA declined to engage, beyond noting that players haven’t been on court for the anthem for years now.
Meanwhile, the Dream and Valkyries have been too preoccupied with winning their first championship to really enter the chat. It’s just going inward with our teammates and staff,” said veteran Golden State center Kiah Stokes, who helped drive her team’s victory with her stout defense of Atlanta star Angel Reese. That’s been one of our keys all season.” But no matter how hard the WNBA resists the urge to clap back, no matter how valiantly it tries to keep the spotlight on basketball, there will always be someone on the right looking to steal it for their grievance grift.
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