Hoops Happening: A roundup of another wild weekend in the WNBA!

It was another wild weekend in the WNBA! The Indiana Fever clenched their first win of the season and the Phoenix Mercury won their eighth straight game for a 10-3 record and a move to the #2 spot in the standings. The LA Sparks are at #1 with an 8-2 record, while the Seattle Storm have now surged to an 8-3 record and #3 in the standings — past the Connecticut Sun who have dropped to #4. The New York Liberty and Chicago Sky have fallen to 9th and 10th, respectively.

Recaps of the weekend’s contests

• Friday’s matchups by yours truly
• Saturday’s matchups by Albert Lee
• Sunday’s matchups by Christine M. Hopkins

Next up on the court

WNBA game action resumes on Tuesday June 19 with a stacked schedule of five games.

Stay tuned for previews!

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Injury report

The injury bug is biting, with two players key to the Atlanta Dream’s success going down recently: Brittney Sykes (right foot) and Tiffany Hayes (left ankle). Prognoses and timelines for their return have not been provided yet.

Here are some of the other notable players who are currently out due to injuries:

• Karima Christmas-Kelly (Dallas Wings) — knee, out for season
• Chiney Ogwumike (Connecticut Sun) — knee, missed one game
• Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun) — shoulder, missed a few games
• Stefanie Mavunga (Indiana Fever) — ankle, did not return Saturday

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Watch Me Work 3.0

The WNBA promotional video series continues! Twelve-year WNBA veteran Candice Dupree discusses her head-down approach to on-the-court work, demanding a lot of herself and her teammates to get her Indiana Fever squad to the next level and setting an example for young girls.

Mystics star Elena Delle Donne discusses the on-court adrenaline rush she lives for and never wants to go away, the sacrifices required to chase championship dreams and the importance of her relationship with her family.

England-born Elizabeth Williams of the Atlanta Dream explains why she doesn’t have a British accent, how basketball was integral to her education and the intellectual aspects of basketball that intrigue her most.

Reigning WNBA MVP Sylvia Fowles of the Minnesota Lynx was featured earlier this season along with Stefanie Dolson of the Chicago Sky.

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Camp diary from Layshia Clarendon

It’s all rainbows and candy wholesome organic goodies.

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Link lush

• Diana Taurasi’s WNBA Pride Night EQUALITY shoes were pretty dreamy. There’s an old-school boxer vibe to these kicks.
• Figure skater Adam Rippon, a self-appointed “glamazon, ready for the runway” and the most recent winner of Dancing with the Stars: Athletes, was the Mercury’s special guest at the team’s Pride Night celebration. Here he is, on locker room duty with the shoeless ladies.
• The Indiana Fever have waived Jazmon Gwathmey and signed Asia Taylor. Taylor will join the team on Monday, as they seek to get a win on the road.
• The Jr. NBA World Championship happened! Here’s what Bandits Elite star Kenzie Willis had to say about the competition.
• Skylar Diggins-Smith recruited her dad to help coach the Soldiers and the phenomenal guard gave a big shout-out to those men who support and foster the development of girls and women.
• The LA Sparks with Michael Cooper are hosting a co-ed basketball clinic for kids. It starts this weekend and registration information can be found HERE.
• Tamika Catchings was the guest speaker at the LA Sparks’ basketball camp. If these kids don’t yet know how lucky they were to be in the presence of such high-character greatness, maybe they can read about Catchings on the internet when they get a little older.

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Scorching the status quo

Imani McGee-Stafford has been scorching the status quo since the first time she spoke publicly about her experiences with childhood sexual abuse and mental illness. Here, she raises important points about how the #MeToo movement has changed the “portrait of the victim” and why sexual abuse and assault are never the victim’s fault.

Click HERE for more on McGee-Stafford’s story and her advocacy for suicide prevention.

In other news ...

• Members of Jewell Loyd’s family offered visible support for the WNBA and called for increased pay of the league’s athletes at the Sparks-Sky matchup on Sunday. Yes, this is the way to get it done because visibility matters.
• The Outsports Pride March will feature representation from most major sports leagues. Does progress in these leagues equal progress in the streets not on the parade route?
• Here’s a breakdown on the link between viewership and earnings for WNBA players. Always, always: Vote with your dollars and/or let viewership be your ballot.
• UFC’s Jessica-Rose Clark, a domestic abuse survivor, isn’t keen on the UFC signing convicted domestic abuser Greg Hardy.
• James Dator of SB Nation got it right: Rafael Nadal would have been better off zipping his lips than spewing hot-sewage takes on the gender-based pay inequality of tennis players.
• Here’s an insightful essay by Paula J. Giddings on what the dominance of black female athletes means to black women in general. In a word: lots.
• And ... we live in a world where people “celebrate” by denigrating others with slurs. In this case, homophobic slurs were hurled by fans of Mexico at the World Cup. Considering Russia’s human rights abuses against LGBTQ citizens, it’d be safe to assume Moscow has no problem with this whatsoever.
• Man-Made, a documentary on the first-of-its-kind transgender-only bodybuilding competition, won the jury award for best documentary at the Atlanta Film Festival. The trans bodybuilding competition started in 2014.
• Two years ago, a basketball player who had come out as gay in 2014 while playing in the NCAA discussed his inability to cross over to the pros because “the calls stopped.” He feels homophobia locked him out of the NBA gates.

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How to #WatchThemWork all season

Shine brighter. * flicker flicker *