Every recent conversation that involves the WNBA has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with the controversy surrounding transgender athletes, which was started by Sophie Cunningham. The league revealed its double standard on Sunday.
Its rules are not consistent!
An employee at the Target Center asked a high-profile spectator to put down her sign in support of Cunningham. Meanwhile, other WNBA fans held signs in opposition to the controversial Indiana Fever forward without issue.
Sophie Cunningham reignited the conversation surrounding transgender athletes.
This whole thing exploded on July 21 when ESPN published a profile on Sophie Cunningham. She said that she wants to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
The outspoken 29-year-old pulled the thread that unraveled the proverbial ball of yarn. The conversation surrounding transgender athletes has completely overwhelmed the WNBA. It is no longer about basketball. It is all about gender.
Nobody seems to know the final score. Everybody knows about Cheryl Reeve’s conversation with Cunningham during warmups. The former trolled the latter by wearing a ‘Trans Kids Belong’ shirt to coach the game. There were numerous supporters and protestors on both sides of the conversation in the stands.
It felt like a lot of people only bought tickets to the game because of the ongoing drama. Maybe that’s a good thing? Either way, the focus has shifted so far away from the on-court product. The WNBA lost the plot.
The WNBA exposed its double standard.
Riley Gaines sat courtside in Minnesota on Sunday for the Fever’s eight-point loss to the Lynx. She was there to protest the inclusion of biological men in women’s sports and even took a photo with Sophie Cunningham alongside Jennifer Sey, the founder of XX-XY Athletics.
Much to the dismay of the WNBA, which has lost control of the narrative, Gaines and Sey are planning to follow Cunningham throughout the rest of the season. The current conversation surrounding women’s basketball has nothing to do with basketball.
And, unfortunately, the league is not doing itself any favors. It continues to create more problems for itself than it solves.
The latest incident involves a pair of hand-written signs with two very different messages. An employee at the Target Center told Gaines that she could not hold her sign because it had a name (Sophie) on it.
Gaines checked all of the sign policies before she went to the game. She made sure the sign was the right size and followed all of the rules. Although the Target Center reserves the right to confiscate signs that it considers inappropriate, the policy does not mention names.
“As a general rule, posters/signage under 11 x 17 inches are allowed in Target Center, pending individual tour/promoter approval. All posters/signage must be handheld, may not be mounted on sticks or poles, may not be lit or constructed using lighting elements, may not contain offensive language or graphics and may not prevent other guests from seeing the stage/event”
An arena staffer told Gaines otherwise. Twice. He first pointed at her to put the sign down. He later doubled back to tell her she could not hold the sign because of the name.
Meanwhile, a different spectator at the Target Center held up a sign that mentioned both Clark and Cunningham by name. It was hateful toward both athletes.
WNBA fan at the Fever-Lynx game today held a sign that says:
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) August 2, 2026
“I Didn’t Think I Could Dislike Anyone More Than Clark, Congrats Cunningham” pic.twitter.com/VNMlbQ4OQC
She could hold the sign. Gaines could not.
I don’t know whether this was a one-off incident that involved a rogue Target Center employee or if the employee was (wrongly) instructed to remove signs with names. Maybe he acted on his own. Maybe he acted at the instruction of his employer and/or the WNBA. Regardless of what happened or why, the double standard between the two signs is yet another bad look for the WNBA.
The supportive sign was a problem. The hateful sign was not.