Three teams and players fined over commemorative black shirts

The teams whose players wore the shirts, including the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, and Minnesota Lynx were fined $5,000, and each player was fined $500, according to ESPN.

As a result, all teams were fined $5,000 and the individual players were fined $500.

WNBA rules say uniforms can not be altered in any way.

Mistie Bass, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, is pissed about their retraction.

In December of 2014, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Garnett, Deron Williams, Jarrett Jack, and Alan Anderson all wore shirts that said “I Can’t Breathe” on them before their respective games.

“We are proud of WNBA players’ engagement and passionate advocacy for non-violent solutions to hard social issues but expect them to comply with the league’s uniform guidelines”, WNBA President Lisa Borders said.

WNBA rules state that uniforms can not be altered in any way, and the league sent each team a memo reminding them of the policy after players from the Liberty, Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings all began to wear the warmup shirts.

These are the t-shirts which were worn by WNBA players.

The Lynx only wore their shirts once. Castile and Sterling’s names were displayed on the back along with a Dallas Police Department emblem and the words “Black Lives Matter”.

The league’s fine is surprising given that dozens of players wore the black warmups with approval from their teams ― and considering that other professional leagues have not issued fines after player protests.

“I respect Derrick Rose and all of our players for voicing their personal views on important issues but my preference would be for players to abide by our on-court attire rules”, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at the time.

While the players intentionally wore Adidas shirts so as to comply with WNBA sponsorship rules, the organization still took issue with the messages printed on their shirts.

Liberty center Tina Charles posted pictures of her and her team-mates in the black t-shirts on Instagram after a game at Madison Square Garden on July 10.

“After seeing the African American male shot three times after helping an autistic person out this morning in Florida, I knew I couldn’t be silent”, Charles said after Liberty lost to the Fever.

Excelle Sports points out the disparity in responses by the leagues is even more striking when you consider that top players in the WNBA make around $111,500 per year, while the minimum rookie salary in the National Basketball Association was $525,093 for the past season.

“I think there’s a lot of people in our league who are very passionate about it”. The Liberty switched to black shirts, which they’ve worn before their last four games.

Charles is looking forward to discussing future actions at the Olympics, where she’ll have a chance to talk with her teammates on the women’s national team and NBA players on the USA men’s team. “As a player rep we are going to continue having these conversations”, she said.