Political and social issues bring the WNBA to media forefront

The WNBA and its players are making headlines as the subjects of social and cultural issues more than for the stellar performances of its most notable teams and superstars. The Indiana Fever’s point guard Caitlin Clark, a supremely gifted offensive talent and the world’s most popular women’s player, has been a weapon of this country’s culture wars since she entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in 2024 after a historic college career at the University of Iowa.

A plethora of right-wing activists, including numerous members of the media, has portrayed Clark as a victim of so-called reverse discrimination, an alleged target of bias and jealousy from her LGBTQ basketball peers, because, as some contend, she’s a wholesome, Midwestern, heterosexual white woman who drives the league’s television ratings and revenue. There is no denying Clark has been a ratings and attendance magnet and by extension an economic force multiplier.

Meanwhile, Clark’s Fever teammate, Sophie Cunningham, has found herself at the center of a national debate about transgender girls and women competing in women’s sports. In a mid-July interview with ESPN, Cunningham expressed her opposition to transgender athletes participating in women’s sports, positing they have an unfair physical advantage. Her position on the topic, which for the past few years has been a wedge issue in both local and national political elections, has sparked protests inside and outside of arenas where the Fever have played. Anti- and pro-Cunningham factions have been equally fervent.

Brittney Griner, one of the greatest players in women’s basketball history and a three-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained in Russia for 293 days, from Feb. 17 to Dec. 8, 2022, after an airport check near Moscow found her in possession of less than a gram of cannabis oil in vape cartridges. She subsequently became a pawn in the geopolitical machinations of two global superpowers.

In a controversial agreement between the United States and Russian governments, Griner was swapped for the infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in U.S. federal prison. Before Griner’s confinement in Russia under harsh conditions, the WNBA was a relative blip on the mainstream media’s radar.

Griner was a well-known athlete in the country, having been a three-time Russian National League champion (2015-17), including twice with the legendary Diana Taurasi as her teammate. The international incident garnered widespread global attention for the WNBA, a league that was still endeavoring to appeal to a broader fan base.

The WNBA is now steeped in the old public relations adage that all publicity is good publicity.