Loeffler Ramps Up Critique Of WNBA As Players Back Opponent

WNBA Atlanta Dream co-Owner and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) "ramped up her criticism of the WNBA" yesterday after "players across the league wore T-shirts endorsing her Democratic challenger in the Georgia Senate race, claiming it showed they were more 'concerned with playing politics than basketball.'" Players from the Dream and other WNBA teams "escalated their public show of opposition" to Loeffler over her "critical comments about the WNBA’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement."

Players around the league wore T-shirts with the message “Vote Warnock,” a reference to Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is running for Loeffler’s seat in this November’s special election. This comes "roughly one month after Loeffler first came out in opposition to the WNBA's decision to dedicate its upcoming season to the Black Lives Matter Movement and to allow players to wear warm-up jerseys paying homage to Black victims of police violence" (THEHILL.com, 8/4).