WNBA Updates On Racism, Coaching, And Chaos

We react to a racist comment aimed at Chelsea Gray and why consequences for fans matter when sports culture gets out of control. We also dig into WNBA leadership, team instability, and the difference between real targeting and the narratives that explode online. 

• Fan accountability after racist heckling toward Chelsea Gray 
• Why racism does not belong in sports 
• Paige Bueckers advocating for more Black women head coaches 
• Why representation matters in a league built by Black women 
• Los Angeles Sparks instability and frustration with leadership turnover 
• BenIjah Laney-Hamilton throwing a shoe at Marina Mabrey and what it says about emotion in the game 
• Caitlin Clark contact, flopping claims, and how narratives shape officiating talk 
• Questions for listeners on discipline, equality advocacy, and what “targeted” really means 

Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone one, about the WNBA and two, about my show 

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Housekeeping

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, Train as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're gonna talk about some WNBA updates. But before we do that, please make sure it's that like and subscribe button, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. I'm trying to get the ratings up below, but you know, just a little bit. And if you wonder where you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate your support.

Racist Heckling And Real Consequences

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Now, we're gonna start today's episode off top with a little lesson. And it's called Stay in Yulane. Alright, let's be decent, folks, individual ladies and gentlemen. Okay? A fan was recently fired from their job for making a racist comment directed towards Chelsea Gray, the point god. Now keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, okay? I understand frustration. I really do. Okay, people sometimes you put money on individuals to do something and they don't. Like to this day, I still don't like Bam Mattabayo as much, right? Because he messed up a couple of my parlays. To this day, Tyler Hero can kiss the crack of my, you know what I'm saying? Because he's messed up some of my parlays. To this day, Kavon Looney, I don't really like you some days, bro, because you messed up some of my parlays. It can go to Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and fun fact, those are my two favorite players in the NBA. Now, once they retire, we can talk about another discussion. Ant-Man's messed some stuff up. Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't matter. Right? People are gonna mess up. We're not perfect. But one thing we can't do is say you can say someone sucks. That's subjective. Cool. Again, I get you, it's an emotional game. But this one individual went at Chelsea Gray and says, You suck ass, ugly ass, n-word. Now, keep in mind, I'm saying n-word because I don't like saying the n-word on my show. Personally, I don't like trying to promote that. Hear me out. I'm happy that that fan got fired. And I hope that becomes more of a thing, ladies and gentlemen. Fans get too wild and you guys feel like, hey, the NBA or WNBA players, really athletes in general, are our property. And that's not the case at all. Because let's be clear if you were walking around the street and you saw some of these athletes, you're not saying any of these things. So this individual right here is a punk, is a coward, is scared, and I'm so happy that you got fired, man. I'm really happy. And I hope it affects your job history going forward, too, to be clear. Like you you we can't act like this individu, ladies and gentlemen. Okay? We can't act like this individual at all. And again, like I said, racism does not belong in sports. And yes, I'm saying racism because I don't think Buddy was black. And to be clear, I'm African-American and I ain't even say the word on this platform. I have not said that word on this platform. You gotta be careful who's listening, right? And he did not take that into consideration. So again, this is just a public service announcement. Watch what you say to individuals, whether it's in public, whether it's in private, you never know what's gonna ever come back to you. But racism does not belong in sports. The closest thing I will get to racism, or at least tolerating racism, is stereotypes. Oh, all black people can can can can slash, oh, white people can shoot, oh, Asian people can burn. The closest I'll get. And even then, I don't really do that. Growing up, that was a thing. Nowadays, not as much. So again, racism, it don't belong in sports, ladies and gentlemen. That's the point I want to bring home. So, Chelsea Gray, sorry that happened to you. Again, you probably didn't do well in that game. You probably messed up in a couple of moments, and that's okay. Because everybody messes up. I'm a big Paige Beckers fan. Paige messes up. I love Stewie. Stewie messes up, Asia messes up, Kobe's messed up before, Jordan's messed up before. Like everybody messes up in the game. Just don't do it when I put money on you, please. Next point.

Paige Bueckers On Coaching Representation

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Next point. Speaking of Paige Beckers, right? I want to give a tip of the cap to Paige Beckers, because again, we talked about a racist moment right then. Let's bring it to a more positive, uplifting equality moment, right? Paige Beckers mentions her desire to see more black women as WNBA head coaches, right? She acknowledges the fact that the WNBA has been built upon black women. Not to say there aren't any other races in the WNBA, but the primary race that plays basketball, WNBA, may happen to be black. So if that's the case, similarly to the NFL, similarly to the NBA, why can't we see more black head coaches? And because it's a women-led sport, right? Why can't it encompass black women head coaches? We saw Noelle Quinn, right? She was on the storm, and actually wouldn't mind Noelle Quinn on my sparks, to be clear. But why can't we get more? Not saying fill the elite entirely of black women head coaches. Why can't we have more representation? Let's get a fair, equality head coach account. That's what I'm asking, ladies and gentlemen. Again, I'm I'm not trying to make this a race thing, but we do need to get some culture shock in the WNBA from a head coaching perspective. I personally think that. And a black woman might be able to help that culture shock out. Just like if we didn't have white coaches, I'd say the same thing. Or if we didn't have Spanish coaches, I'd say like I'm trying to preach equality across the board. So again, I commend Paige, right, for making this statement because that's partly the reason why people do love and admire her. Like a lot of times I don't see a lot of players advocating for another race. She has. And she did this dating back to college too. So this is not a trend. This is not to get her money up. She's been doing this consistently over some years now. When you hear other fan bases like the Caitlin Clarks or even Olivia Miles, AZ Fuds, anybody that we don't hear these sort of things. And notice, I said another white individual and two black individuals, right? So don't think I'm focusing solely on the Caitlin Clark because I understand people get excited or upset if you talk about Caitlin Clark negatively. No, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about across the board, ladies and gentlemen. Paige Beckers usually talks highly of other races. And you gotta appreciate that. That's why people view her as a leader. That's why she is accepted by everybody in the WNBA and loved by everybody in sports. So again, tip of the cap to Paige Beckers, one of our better leaders in the WNBA, one of what I consider should be one of the faces, at least future faces of the WNBA. And if not future faces, you can try to argue one of the faces in the league right now. I think that's a little bit premature. But she's definitely gonna hit that marker eventually. So tip of the cap to Paige Beckers. Uh, but let's go ahead and move on down. Cause sometimes I wish he was on my sparks, and sometimes when I talk about it too much, I get a little emotional.

Sparks Instability And Front Office Frustration

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Speaking of my sparks, though, yeah, my sparks have really had instability over the last five seasons. And it's been very disgusting. When I say instability, ladies and gentlemen, we ain't made the playoffs since 2019, 2020, if I'm not mistaken. No, no, 2019, we went to round two and we lost. We got dog walked, we got swept, and that one hurt. Then 2020, we might have lost in the first round. And then after that, we haven't made the playoffs. And we just recently let go of our GM, ladies and gentlemen. I'm gonna be honest with you, I really don't care who the GM was. I really don't. Because either way, we won't do on a job. Okay. We also had Derek Fisher, and he won't doing his job. And that's why I hate it too, bro. Because we really could have made some noise with D Fish, man. Five-time NBA champion with the Lakers. Matter of fact, we had Karen Bryant next. I don't think any relation, right? And she couldn't get the job done. Poor Karen. Not poor Karen, poor us. Because again, we're struggling still. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an organization that has three championships, if I'm not mistaken. We've had Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Neko Goumake, Chelsea Gray. We've had some pretty, pretty stout individuals play for us. The first person to ever score a bucket, the first person to ever get a bucket in the WNBA was Penny Toller. And guess what team she was on? My Sparks. Matter of fact, Penny Toller was our GM. And when she was the reason why we were successful from 2000 to 2019, she was our GM. Now we let her go, I believe, because she called some of the some of the players didn't really like the way that she was talking to them. And here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen. I told you we got to the second round of the playoffs and lost to the Connecticut Sun. We were down, we lost 3-0. And let me just run you by some of the names on this team. Chelsea Gray, NECA Gumake, Candace Parker. Let's just stop right there. I listed them off already. So if that the fact that they were on our team and we couldn't get the job done, I'm not saying win the series, ladies and gentlemen. I'm talking about win a game. We couldn't do that. That's disgusting work. Let's continue, shall we? Because we also had Raquana Williams, who, for those of y'all who don't know, she has the second highest scoring, or the the yeah, the second highest scoring game by an individual in the WNBA, which was 52 points. That that was recently surpassed by Marina Mayberry, but was already surpassed by Liz Cambage. So those two tied at 53. But we had a quality team. We also had Sinea Gumake, another number one pick, by the way. But ladies and gentlemen, again, the fact that we couldn't win a game was disgusting. And then when I'm hearing things like, oh, well, they were called MFers, if that was the sole reason, I hope she said some other stuff, bro. Because if that was the thing that that they that they didn't like, I know for a fact people get called worse on the go on on the floor. So you know, I I hope my sparks can get it right. Oh, I really do. Because if not, man, I'm a loyal person still, so I'm gonna thug it out. But I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm wondering what we can do. Let's get Noel Quinn into the mix, maybe. I don't know, something like that. Let's try something out. But yeah, my sparks, we got a little instability, and I'm not really liking it. Pineapples. So can we change some stuff up, please? I'd appreciate it. But let's let's go on to the next topic because I I got some things to talk about. Uh

The Shoe Throw And Rivalry Heat

SPEAKER_00 10:09

like Binaje Laney throwing her shoe at Marina May. I'm sorry, Banaj Laney Hamilton throwing her shoe at Marina Maybury. Listen, my first reaction, out of pocket, yet funny. However, you also gotta remember, too, there's a history between these two, ladies and gentlemen. Right? Like, one, both are fierce competitors. Matter of fact, I would like to have both on my team if I could. Hear me out. Again, when you got two fierce competitors going up against one another, sometimes the game gets a little chippy. Sometimes they can show respect towards one another because game recognized game, granddad. Not necessarily in this case, though. Because a couple years ago, right, Benaje's guarding Marina. Marina accidentally, but still with maybe a little intent. I'm not, I'm just saying it looked like it could have been, hits Benaje in the face. Benaj pushes Marina, you know what I'm saying? Marina's like, what did I do? We got a little history going on. So now during this game, it gets a little chippy, right? There's a loose ball dive on the floor, Marina and Binaje trying to go after it. Then Binaje is once again guarding Marina. And eventually Marina pushes down Benaj, and Binaje takes offense to her. Now, I'm still confused at when the shoe got thrown. Because allegedly she wasn't necessarily trying to hit Marina, but I'm telling you right now, they hit her smooth in the back. So if she won't try to hit her, yeah, she needed to have that same level of focus on the daggone shots because that thing was pure spot all, I'm telling you right now. So again, ladies and gentlemen, there's clearly some history. And let's be clear too. Marina Maybury is historically a hothead. Like you can even hear in a video where she said, I'm gonna effing kill somebody. Hey, yo, awful bad call. I get it. Trust me, I do get it. But that's just giving you context to show she's a little bit of a hothead. So, moral of the story, yes, we see that a shoe was thrown at Marina. And again, while out of pocket, yet funny, it could have also been understood as well. Some people get a little frustrated with Marina Mayberry. Even one of her current best friends, Saniah Rivers, she even admitted that Marina has thrown temper tantrums and it's sometimes a little wild. But now they're good friends because she actually got to know the person. So sometimes when you're competing against individuals, you're not gonna know the person, ladies and gentlemen. So you're gonna see what you see, and sometimes you're frustrated. So I understand why Benaji threw that shoe. I'm just saying as a whole, we probably can do a little bit better in terms of controlling our emotions and keeping the game clean. Because everybody wants to see a clean game. We can see a little dirtiness sometimes, a little fouly here or there ain't no too ain't too bad. But let's keep it in check across the board. Please, ladies. Let's make the game fun. I appreciate you. And that's the same thing go for the men too, while we're on the topic, I guess. But let's go ahead and slide on down to the next topic. But we

Caitlin Clark Narratives And Flopping Talk

SPEAKER_00 12:58

got Caitlin Clark hitting the deck in 2026. Yes. She's hit the ground before, okay, 2024. She had a couple, you know what I'm saying? I get it. I understand you. Heard you. For the narrative that she's being targeted. Let's cut that out though. Please. Alright. Alyssa Thomas. Yeah. There was an instance or two. And Alyssa Thomas has been suspended, rightfully so. Right? Now, on one hand, I kind of understand her trying to go for the basketball, and then the basketball gets passed out, and then she's trying to push herself up, right? Now you can you can push yourself up with your fingertips, right? Or you can push yourself up with your knuckle. I get it. Like I genuinely do. I've already stated that Marina should have been I mean, I'm sorry, uh that Alyssa Thomas should have been suspended. So I'm not mad at it. Okay? But there are a couple other instances that I've seen Caitlin Clark kind of go at people, or have, or have people go at her, and she's guarding them, or she's on the offense, and she's flopping or she's trying to sell something, right? For example, Chelsea Gray going at her, driving, pivoting, goes at her at the body, fades away, gets fouled by Caitlin Clark. And what does Caitlin Clark do? She's like, oh no, it was a foul, it was a foul, she fouled me. We reviewed the footage, ladies and gentlemen. That was just a weight room issue. Like Chelsea Gray goes into Caitlin Clark. Caitlin Clark has her hands up, then leans them over a little bit, fouls, Chelsea Gray. The foul was there. Caitlin's saying, Oh, I got hit. No, sweetie, you didn't. You actually did the hitting. Yes, Chelsea Gray went into the body, but guess what? That's part of basketball, to be clear. Especially when you're hovering over somebody, that's a foul on you. So for the Caitlin Clark stands, I need y'all to cut it out. Like, let's stop acting like she's being targeted. Another example recently, where Kia Stokes is guarding Caitlin Clark. Does Kia put her arm on Caitlin? Yes, she does. Does that happen a lot in basketball? Yes, it does. So let's not act like this is something harsh or something wild. This is a common play where honestly I might not have even called anything. And I've ref before, like five days total. I might not call that for a couple of reasons, but I might not call that. Now, Caitlin's actually initiating the contact because, like I said, Kia Stokes does put her hand on her arm, but Caitlin also pushes Kia Stokes off. If you look at Kia's leg, it's not hitting Caitlin's. Caitlin's leg is actually going up because as you do a layup, that's what happens. Your leg bolts up because that's giving you momentum to go to the basket. But then eventually she kind of flops towards the ground. So Caitlin Clark, yes, she's been hit towards the ground, but she's also throwing herself at the ground sometimes too. And that's got to be noted as well. Like I've heard people complain about flopping in the NBA. I think we gotta throw a little bit of flopping towards Caitlin Clark. Because she's saying, oh, well, the refs got a call then. I think she's just trying to get extra calls, which I understand. All right. Like good players, they try to get calls. I get it. All right. Everybody tries to get calls. Hell, even in my men's league, I try to get calls. Sometimes jokingly, but I try to get calls. But again, we can't act like the WNBA is fully going after Caitlin Clark. I think you can make a case that Alyssa Thomas might have a gripe with Caitlin Clark. And do so and do some other NBA or WNBA players have a gripe with Caitlin? Maybe. Like maybe. Okay? Because I get it. Right? Some people might be a little insecure, or some people might not like how some of the Caitlin Clark stands and fans talk about the WNBA players. I get it. You also don't quite hear as much of Caitlin going out to her fans saying, hey, let's chill out. Like I don't hear that that often, personally. I don't. And also you can say, well, why should she care, too? Because she needs to make her chicken, right? So I get it. All I'm saying, ladies and gentlemen, is let's pump the brakes on this whole Caitlin Clark narrative. Oh, she's getting fouled, or she's getting heckled, oh, she's getting defended full court all the time in double to triple team. No, she's not. Not like that. Not like that. There's a specific way that people guard her because of how her game style is. And to be clear, it has to be working and doing something because she's shooting what 41% from the field or lower, 30 something percent from the three-point line, getting about five turnovers a game. Clearly, it's working. And it's not just on her teammates, not like her teammates are always missing layups, are always missing passes. No, Caitlin Clark is also messing up too. So again, let's pump the brakes on some of these narratives. Is there a little animosity sometimes? Yes, I give you that. Is it always animosity? No. I wouldn't even say it's the majority of the time. They hooping. So again, ladies and gentlemen, let's pump the brakes on some of these false narratives.

Listener Questions And Closing CTA

SPEAKER_00 17:45

But, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So I'm glad I was able to talk about those five points. But I'm curious, what are your thoughts on those five points? Do you feel like that fan should have got fired for their racist comments directed towards Chelsea Gray? And do you think that should be a thing going forward? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to mess up people's pockets and livelihoods, but if you're showing that you're not a decent person, why should I personally care? Again, I want the best for people. I'm not wishing ill will towards this person. I'm just saying that justice was served. So do you agree or do you disagree? Also, do you want to see more players advocating like Paige Beckers did? Not necessarily just for black women as head coaches, but advocating in general for equality. I want to know your thoughts. How about my sparks? Do y'all have an answer for how we can stop being so daggled in stable? Like, I need us to get back to prominence. I ain't even talking about winning championships. I'm just talking about winning the playoff series. That's that's that's really what warmed my heart. Because once we do that, then I'm gonna talk about championship. Because now we got expectations. But y'all got any words of encouragement for me? Also, some ideas. I'm gonna go into the lab and think about some things, but I'm curious of your thoughts. Also, what's your thoughts on Bonaj Laney Hamilton throwing her shoe at Marina Mayberry? Was it out of pocket? Was it cool? Was it funny? Do you think Bonaj should get suspended? Are you okay with it because Marina Mayberry is a hothead? Let me know your thoughts. And then finally, what's your thoughts on this whole Caitlin Clark narrative? She's been hitting the deck, yes, but does she get pushed down a lot? Does she get fouled too much? Are the refs not calling it enough? Do you think there's a target on Caitlin Clark's back just because of her stands and fans? Yes, she has brought some viewership to the to the game. But if you hear some of these stands and fans talking about the W and their players, and even the historical players, yeah, I would have a little issue with it too. But I want to know your thoughts. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone one, about the WNBA and two, about my show. My name is Trey, I'm the host of Good of Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.