4 minSports
Sue Bird claims WNBA players wanted to 'shut up and dribble' despite 2020 political push
Sue Bird said WNBA players would have preferred to avoid politics in 2020, contradicting her earlier statements that social justice messaging was nonnegotiable for the season.
Sue Bird said on a recent episode of her podcast that WNBA players would have preferred to avoid political activism during the 2020 season, a statement that contradicts her own public comments from that year. The retired Seattle Storm guard said players "would have loved to shut up and dribble because that meant we were talking about basketball," but argued that the "intersectionality of it all" forced them to speak out on social issues.
Bird served as a vice president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association in 2020, the season the league painted Black Lives Matter on its courts, launched the Justice Movement and created a Social Justice Council. Players and league officials repeatedly addressed topics including voting rights, LGBTQ advocacy and gun control throughout that season. The political engagement extended beyond statements, as players wore shirts reading "Vote Warnock" before games in support of Democrat Raphael Warnock's Senate campaign against then-Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler.
Bird's recent comments stand in contrast to an October 2020 interview with NPR in which she said the season "was going to have to be played with social justice messages, on our jerseys, on the floor, forefront." She described the messaging as nonnegotiable for players and said the league was on board "right from the jump." Axios reported at the time that the idea to publicly support Warnock came directly from Bird, who said it was "a great way for us to get the word out about this man, and hopefully put him in the Senate."
In the recent podcast episode, Bird described the WNBA as a "lightning rod" for political fights that the league office cannot be expected to solve. She referenced Donald Trump and questioned whether anyone, including Democrats, had figured out how to avoid being manipulated by his approach. Bird asked how the WNBA was supposed to resolve such issues "overnight," suggesting the league office receives excessive criticism for failing to handle problems that even professional politicians cannot manage.
Her guest on the episode, ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne, pushed back on the framing. Shelburne called the WNBA "a more willing participant" in political conversations because its players are willing to weigh in on controversial topics. She said the league sits in the middle of culture wars, but players, coaches, front offices and the league all have a choice about whether to engage. "Right now the choice seems to have been that you are engaging," Shelburne said.
Bird's 2020 actions included helping turn the conflict with Loeffler into a campaign for Warnock, who won the Senate seat. The league and union had called for Loeffler's ouster after she criticized the WNBA for dedicating its season to Black Lives Matter. Bird's recent comments suggest the players were unwilling participants in political activism, a position that her own statements from 2020 directly contradict.
