The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season wraps up in mid-October when the WNBA Finals conclude. The regular season ended on September 24th. Thank goodness. The league needs a break!

The playoffs started on September 27th. Hopefully they can make it through several rounds with less controversy than the regular season produced. Pray it be so.

I’ve not witnessed a WNBA game first hand. I’m afraid I might become angry. Unlike going to a Cubs game. Unless they are playing the Cardinals or Brewers.

My antenna went up on the WNBA in reading and hearing about a particularly gifted young woman who plays for the Indiana Fever. One Caitlin Clark. Former Iowa Hawkeye. A white woman.

I shouldn’t have to say that. She, along with a couple of other female studs including Paige Bueckers (also white) of the Dallas Wings, has magically created a dramatic surge in attendance at WNBA games. Both are excellent scorers. Thus, both have been given “white privilege” designations by black teammates.

Name calling and labeling is one thing. Words supposedly never hurt us. Physical abuse, however, does. Caitlin has a Fever teammate who has been designated as “The Enforcer” to help protect her on the court! Her name is Sophie Cunningham.

In an August matchup with the Chicago Sky, DiJonai Carrington who plays for Chicago, was assessed a flagrant 2 foul after hard smacking Cunningham across the face and neck area as Cunningham was going for a defenseless layup. Carrington was also ejected from the game. Cheap shot all the way.

This isn’t mixed martial arts competition. It isn’t the virtually dead sport we used to call “Rollerball” where such bad play was encouraged among roller skating gals. This is women’s basketball. You don’t shoot to kill the competition. It’s a SKILL game!

So my first two reasons for sidelining the WNBA are unwelcome violence and racist attitudes—toward WHITE players!

My third is the inability of the league to fully support womanhood. A controversy arose this summer with a former NBA (National Basketball Association) player named Enes Canter Freedom. He shows up at a Chicago Sky game wearing a T-shirt stating that the word “woman” is a “noun” that means “adult human female.” He claimed he came to the game to “protect women.”

So what’s the problem? Well, “Freedom” recently declared himself eligible for next season’s WNBA draft! His effort was to mock the WNBA’S refusal to define what a woman is. Freedom is the second former NBA player to try this stunt. FYI…he’s 6’10”! (For more on this story, see David Smith’s IFI article from August here.)

Next up, and somewhat related, is the number of lesbian identifying players in the WNBA. This gets a little tricky. Tracking relies on players being publicly open about their personal lives. That information is usually found on social media or in interviews.

Many players may opt not to share this publicly.

What we DO know is that approximately 25% to 35% of WNBA players are publicly “out” as LGBTQ+. Some publications have said roughly 53 openly gay or “queer “players were on rosters during the 2026 season. 

I feel a bit awkward in taking my stance on this topic, but not because I doubt conviction. Instead, a long time friend of mine has a relative significantly involved with the WNBA. He chooses to see what he considers “the good.”

But for me, I believe the WNBA needs a significant course correction. And it starts with leadership that steers the ship with discernment, conviction, and a moral compass fixed on “true north.”

Honestly, I just don’t see that happening. Any idea why?

The Bible says,

“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” (Ephesians 4:18, ESV)

Will a WNBA owner or ownership group be willing to limit drafting players to those of good character? Will they commit to ending violence on the court? Will they find others who are willing to stand with them and clean up a messy set of problems? Or will money and winning dominate the landscape of the WNBA?

Until changes come, my interest in the WNBA is sidelined.