Former Oregon Duck basketball star Sabrina Ionescu is translating her talent on the court to some pretty biting commentary over the latest WNBA controversy involving players and charter flights. The WNBA fined the New York Liberty $500,000 after the franchise chartered flights for its players during the second half of the 2021 season, according to a report from Sports Illustrated's Howard Megdal. Instead of staying quiet, Ionescu had the response we were all thinking…
“What a joke😂😂😂,” she tweeted along with a link to the source article. What a joke, indeed.
According to league officials, Liberty owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai violated the collective bargaining agreement because the use of chartered flights is considered a competitive advantage. It’s strange to even think there’s a clause in that agreement that stipulates what type of travel players can utilize when playing in different arenas.
The story gets more egregious as general counsel, Jamin Dershowitz, reportedly "floated out" other penalties, including the loss of draft picks, suspension of team owners and even the termination of the franchise. TERMINATING A TEAM OVER A CHARTERED FLIGHT. It’s this kind of fake flex that has the WNBA entrenched in lack of resources and support.
It’s good to see Sabrina and her teammates speaking out against a punishment so arbitrary. Hopefully some real change can come from the exposure of this story.