Sex toys are being thrown on WNBA courts. Timeline of 'ridiculous' events
The sports world is talking about objects being thrown on the court, specifically green neon sex toys.
Over the past two weeks there have been three incidents during which a sex toy has been thrown on a WNBA court during live game action. The latest incident happened Tuesday night in a game between the Indiana Fever and the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena in L.A.
"It's ridiculous, it's dumb, it's stupid," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said after the game. "It's also dangerous. Player safety is No. 1, respecting the game, all those things. I think it's really stupid."
Roberts' reaction is starting to become the norm, especially if the trend continues. Here is a timeline of events:
July 29: Valkyries at Dream
The first incident occurred on July 29 during the fourth quarter of the Atlanta Dream's game against the Golden State Valkyries at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.
A 23-year-old man, Delbert Carver, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure and criminal trespass.
Aug. 1: Valkyries at Sky
During the Valkyries' game against the Sky at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Aug. 1, another sex toy was thrown onto the court. Officials stopped play when the toy was heaved from the stands and landed by a baseline near the Sky's basket. An official kicked the toy away, and a Sky staffer quickly removed it.
Aug. 5: Fever at Sparks
With two minutes remaining in the second quarter of Tuesday's game, a sex toy landed on the court in the lane near Fever forward Sophie Cunningham, who earlier in the week went on social media to plead with fans not to throw things on the floor and posted another reaction after the game. Sparks guard Kelsey Plum kicking it into the stands.
WNBA response to sex toys being thrown during games
Each WNBA team has policies and security procedures about what spectators can and cannot bring into a specific arena. The league strongly encourages fans not to bring bags into venues, and every bag that is allowed within certain specifications is subject to search.
The arenas also have an extensive list of what is allowed in arenas, with the obvious items such as weapons, fireworks, hazardous items, and tools being prohibited.
The WNBA has issued warnings against any fan throwing objects on the court, saying violators would be "immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban," and could face charges from authorities.
"The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league," the WNBA said in a statement. "Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans. In line with WNBA Arena Security Standards, any fan who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban in addition to being subject to arrest and prosecution by local authorities."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Diana Taurasi: 'Had To Go To A Communist Country To Earn Like A Capitalist... The F***ing Janitor Made More Than Me'
Diana Taurasi: 'Had To Go To A Communist Country To Earn Like A Capitalist... The F***ing Janitor Made More Than Me' originally appeared on Fadeaway World. The equitable pay debate is an evergreen subject ever since the inception of the WNBA. But the situation of their present financial strength is making the debate an even more fiery subject than it was before. For several years now, female players have had to go overseas to earn a decent living during the WNBA offseason. Diana Taurasi, in a documentary on her life with Amazon Prime, opened up on being forced to go to Russia and play despite being the best in the world in her prime. 'I'm the best player in the world, and I have to go to a communist country to get paid like a capitalist.' 'One time I came back and I was like, man, my parents have just gotten older and I've missed a big part of it.' 'We weren't making that much money. So, generational wealth was coming from going to Russia every year. Now we have to come back home to get paid nothing? To play in a harder league, in worse conditions, against the best competition in the world? The f**king janitor at the arena made more than me.' Diana Taurasi earned a little over $1.3 million in career earnings after playing 20 seasons in the NBA. On average, that is a $65,000 annual salary over 20 years in the league, which is negligible money in today's age. Meanwhile, she earned over $1 million in single seasons playing in Russia. Thus, getting enough money to build generational wealth eventually, as her net worth is now $3.5 million. What Taurasi highlighted as an issue in her time is prevalent even today. Most players are forced to leave the country and play internationally to earn the money they need for a decent livelihood and to pay the bills. Considering that a usual WNBA season lasts for only five months in the year, the players have seven months of the year in which they are on their own to earn a living. Moreover, player salaries have barely touched six figures, let alone reach the eight or nine-figure mark that the men get. Even Caitlin Clark, who is currently earning millions in revenue for the league with each appearance, is only earning $78,066 for the entire 2025 season. And the largest annual contract value that has been handed out in all time till date has been to Jackie Young with the average annual salary value of $252,450. I understand that the WNBA has been reporting fiscal losses only and has never made a profit since its inception in 1997. Players protested silently for their demands as all players showed up for the All-Star Game warm-ups wearing a T-shirt that said 'Pay Us What You Owe Us.' But now, the players have opted out of the CBA extension, which is due by October 31st of this year. Therefore, they will have to come up with a new agreement with the league for things like salary and revenue sharing, or they are at risk of total work story was originally reported by Fadeaway World on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gilbert Arenas Offers Creative Solution To WNBA Pay Problem: "Stop Asking For Revenue Split.... Let The Billionaires' Egos Kick In."
Gilbert Arenas Offers Creative Solution To WNBA Pay Problem: "Stop Asking For Revenue Split.... Let The Billionaires' Egos Kick In." originally appeared on Fadeaway World. One of the biggest problems for a woman to pursue a basketball career in the United States is that the job is not as lucrative as it is for men to aim for that profession. Current WNBA players believe that they are not getting an adequate share of the league's revenue, even though it has never reported a profit since its inception. Gilbert Arenas, the former NBA player, believes he has a potential solution to this problem for the WNBA players. On Joy Taylor's most recent podcast episode, Arenas and Taylor discussed how the WNBA is in their Magic Johnson and Larry Bird phase at the moment and how to solve the pay problem presently. 'I think the problem here is this. Stop asking for a revenue split. [Say] I want real money. Take the cap off. Let our owner pay us what he wants to pay us. Here's why." 'Okay, so look, when you're talking about a revenue split, it's no different than business, right? We can split our revenue 50/50. Then what does the person who has the business do? Ah, there's no profit. I've got all these bills to pay. So there's no revenue.' 'So that's a pointless thing to do, right? Because they're going to offset how much they lost. So they're like, "Oh, you want revenues, but we lost $40 million, so how are we going to give you [when we have] no money?" 'What you want is to take off the hard cap. Let the billionaires' egos kick in because one thing somebody with money doesn't want to do is be on the same playing field with someone who's brokered. So if I make 11 billion and he makes 500 million, I don't want to be on the same playing field; this is business. I want to buy his players out. 'Yes. I want to be able, like if I owned a business, I wouldn't be able to spend what I want to spend on my players. And if you can't afford your players, I'm going to get them from you. And if you can't afford them, go get a new investor. And that's the model that they need to be following." 'If Vegas can get their private plane, let them. What happens? All the girls start talking... And what happens is everybody wants to travel there.' 'What ends up happening to the bottom half is that they go get new investors. Stop trying to be greedy. You want to own 100% of everything with f***ing 200 million. No. Go get someone who can invest, and you lose 75% of your business. You got 25. But that's 11 billion, man right there. Let's go.' 'Everybody wants to hold on to 100% of nothing. And that becomes a problem. That's not the women's problem. They're playing the game. They have a buzz. They want to get paid for doing their job. ' The justification usually given for a salary cap is that it leads to equitable gameplay and a fair chance for everyone to compete. But if the hard cap is handcuffing teams from paying their players, isn't it time to break those shackles? Analyzing Gilbert Arenas' Potential Solution To The WNBA Pay Problem Taylor argued that since the WNBA is not as old as the NBA, they are in that expansion phase where the men's league was during the Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird era in the '80s. But Arenas offered an alternative solution that could fast-track the process of getting WNBA players paid, and in my opinion, it makes a lot of sense. Taylor is not wrong to compare the WNBA's current phase to where the NBA was over four decades ago. Moreover, they recently signed a major TV rights deal and saw a franchise valuation cross $300 million for the first time in the Connecticut Sun's record-breaking sale. Several sources also anticipate that by the next decade, midway through the 2030s, the WNBA could see its first $1 billion franchise valuation with the New York Liberty. Seeing these optimistic updates for the league's future, WNBA players felt that they had earned the right to ask for a bigger piece of the cake. Through a silent demonstration at the 2025 All-Star Game, they made their collective feelings public that they feel they are not paid what they are owed. But if the WNBA picks up the MLB model of doing business, then the league could become a lot more competitive and give players a solid livelihood so that they are not forced to go overseas to earn money like Diana Taurasi and several other WNBA players have been in the past. Playing to a rich man's ego is the easiest way to make money. Arenas' solution would allow players to command more money now instead of waiting for decades to reach the NBA's level conventionally. Taking an unconventional route could be the only option here for the WNBA as the players face an October 31st deadline to come up with a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) or risk a total work stoppage. According to the current CBA, the WNBA players get only a 9.3% share of the league's revenue. Since they have rejected the renewal of the same CBA, there will be extensive negotiations to come up with a new CBA. Instead of demanding a bigger share of the revenue, if the players manage to convince the league to alter this structure and remove the hard cap, the WNBA's pay problem could be story was originally reported by Fadeaway World on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Alanna Smith scores 25 and the Lynx hold off the Mystics 80-76 to improve to 16-1 at home
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alanna Smith scored 25 points, Courtney Williams had 14 and the Minnesota Lynx held off the Washington Mystics 80-76 on Friday night to improve to 16-1 at home this season. Smith and Washington rookie Sonia Citron each scored eight straight points for their teams down the stretch. Citron's three-point play with 2:44 left pulled the Mystics within 71-70, but Smith answered at the other end with her fourth 3-pointer. Citron sank a 3-pointer from the wing with 59 seconds remaining to tie it at 76-all. Williams answered with a baseline jumper to give Minnesota a two-point lead. Washington guard Sug Sutton was fouled with 36 seconds left but the call was overturned following a review. The Mystics won the jump ball, but Citron turned it over in the lane. Kayla McBride sealed it with two free throws. DiJonai Carrington, in her home debut for the Lynx after being traded from Dallas, added 12 points for Minnesota (26-5). McBride scored 11. Napheesa Collier (right ankle) did not play. Citron finished with 26 points and four 3-pointers for Washington (13-17). Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin each scored 12 points. Bridget Carleton made a jumper from the free throw line just before the halftime buzzer to give Minnesota a 38-35 lead. The Lynx were just 2 of 13 from 3-point range in the first half. The Mystics were hurt by 13 turnovers in the half. ___ AP WNBA:
