Aliyah Boston, one of the most dominant and decorated players in women’s college basketball, was selected with the first overall pick in the WNBA draft on Monday night.
It’s a big event: a milestone for every player and an important day for building excitement as the new WNBA season approaches.
But in the run-up to the big event, the conversation around women’s basketball has focused more on the return of two players to college, rather than the transition to the pros.
Ever since Angel Reese mocked Caitlin Clark at the end of the NCAA Division I championship game between Louisiana State and Iowa nearly two weeks ago, players, fans and internet agitators have been weighing in on the racial double standards that exist in women’s soccer: White players with ponytails and high scores are praised for their sass, while black women who talk badly are vilified for it.
The issue of racial hypocrisy is a point of contention in the WNBA, a league where 80 percent of the players are women of color but which, players say, has struggled to promote its black stars. Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association and one of the league’s most compelling prospects, lamented that the style, skills and personalities of black women propel the league forward, but “when it comes to the perception, reception and marketing” of women’s professional basketball, they “don’t get the credit.”
White stars such as Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, and Kelsey Plum have made similar astute observations.
Plum, a guard for the Las Vegas Aces, has said that when she entered the league as the first draft pick in 2017, she felt like she preferential treatment from the league’s marketing machine because she’s straight and white. “It’s definitely a problem in our league. Just straight up.”
Is there any hope the league will figure out what to do with Boston, which became a college basketball star last season when South Carolina captured the national title?
She emerged as the 2022 National Player of the Year for as much of her personality as her skills. During national broadcasts, Boston showed off her playfulness, her dance, and her genuine thoughtfulness during interviews, choosing her words as carefully as the pink, orange, or blue hues of her next set of braids.
In an ideal world, she would be embraced and promoted as much as her white counterparts in a league that still struggles to gain a foothold with the average sports fan.
I’d like to believe that the group of talented, young, black basketball players selected through the WNBA draft will be embraced and promoted just as much as their white counterparts.
But I can’t say that will happen.
Ogwumike, who won both the WNBA title and the Most Valuable Player Award for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016, said the league continues to emphasize the importance of decency at the start of each season.
“There’s a perception that they want our game to be family-oriented, and that means no nonsense and no real, natural expression,” she said.
Ogwumike said she resists the requirement every year, which she framed as respect for the sport, “because within reason we’re not allowed to be ourselves,” adding that her male counterparts in the NBA are “admired and looked up to” for their antics.
Increasing the contribution of the WNBA’s Black talent is high on the list of ways players want to evolve their league.
For example, the league is increasingly positioning itself as a cultural trendsetter. Ogwumike pointed to off-the-court fashion — think of the camera shots of players in boundary-pushing, often gender-bending clothing as they walk into the arena locker rooms — and said that those who start the trends often don’t get what they deserve.
“There are a lot of Black players in the W who have been dressing fashionably and setting trends for a long time,” she said. “But they’re not the ones who are recognized as trendsetters.”
The tendency towards whiteness can be quantified.
A recent study of media coverage of the WNBA on popular websites ESPN, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated found that gaping coverage gap between the races. People like me, journalists who cover women’s basketball and care about the untapped potential of women’s sports, need to look in the mirror and think about who we’re targeting and how we’re talking about them.
In 2020, a year when race was at the forefront of the American conversation, Black players won 80 percent of the league’s postseason awards: MVP, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, to name three. And yet, according to University of Massachusetts researchers Risa Isard and Nicole Melton, Black players received about 50 percent less targeted attention than their white counterparts.
That same year, the WNBA invested more in marketing, pledging to spend $1 million annually to highlight achievement and diversity, which has had a direct impact on several Black players like A’ja Wilson, Betnijah Laney and Jonquel Jones. And as part of a $75 million investment raised in 2022, the WNBA planned to prioritize marketing and improving its website and app.
Another fun fact: Former South Carolina star Wilson, who has won two MVP Awards since being selected first overall by the Aces in 2018, was the only Black player in 2020 to receive more media attention than commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
In 2021, Wilson was the only Black player to cracking the top five in shirt sales, behind Sabrina Ionescu, Bird and Diana Taurasi, but just ahead of Stewart.
No, I’m not saying the WNBA is riddled with abject racism. Far from it, the WNBA is a model in many ways.
That said, the league is just a microcosm of a broader world grappling with all the thorny issues surrounding race.
It’s time to move beyond the old dichotomies and expand the scope of what’s possible for female athletes. The WNBA can help by fully embracing Boston’s stories And Steward And Wilson, along with all the other players of every color and identity who display their skills in their own distinctive way.
Let’s see how the competition shows that.
