Carmelo Anthony has responded to a call for action — even lending his status to the plight of WNBA players who seem to be suffering through a double-standard.
After announcing his Olympic-team “town hall meeting” he is staging in Los Angeles next week — Anthony criticized the fines levied against politically minded WNBA players — who’ve found creative ways to protest the violence in this country.
The WNBA has fined the Liberty, the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever $5,000 each and their players $500 for wearing all-black warm-up shirts during pregame shooting drills, instead of their normal uniform tops.
“I don’t see no reason to fine them,’’ Anthony said before Thursday’s U.S. Olympic team practice at UNLV. “If anything you should want to support them. I don’t know details, but don’t see a reason to fine them.”
“A bunch of teams did it,” Anthony said. “Everyone has their own freedom of speech if they decide to use the platform. I don’t see no reason for anybody to get fined. We did it [3 ¹/₂ years ago after the Trayvon Martin shooting]. The NBA did it. The NBA was very supportive. I don’t see any difference in this matter. Right now the players have a very strong stance in what they believe in right now. I don’t think anyone should be fighting that at this moment.”
The Liberty have worn the black T-shirts four times.