CHICAGO ― Player safety, particularly safety from online abuse, has become a dominant topic for the WNBA in the weeks leading up to the 2026 All-Star weekend. Many players understand it's important, but admit there isn't a simple solution.
"It gets harder in this day and age with social media because ... it's hard to censor what people say or protect players in that way when we all have social media. Everybody has access to our pages, DMs, whatever it is," Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron told USA TODAY.
"And with betting and everything, it's obviously gotten worse with the parlays and all that, but I think that's just something that we as players can try to ... just be super intentional about what we're looking at. It's still important to have conversations about how we can make it better."
On Tuesday, commissioner Cathy Engelbert and leadership from the Women's National Basketball Players **** ociation (WNBPA) met "for an honest and meaningful conversation about the recent increase in racist, hateful, and abusive messages directed at players," according to a statement from the league.
The meeting came in the wake of incidents that shed light on the issue.

#safety #Media