Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Video/News Video
News VideoSports

Kyrie Irving Starts $1.5 Million Fund for WNBA Players Who Are Sitting Out for COVID-19, Social Justice or Personal Reasons

Posted byBy Daryl Nelson | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

NBA star Kyrie Irving believes that the WNBA players who’ve decided not to play this season shouldn’t have to deal with financial concerns.

The Brooklyn Nets guard created a $1.5 million fund to help make up for lost earnings while players sit out for either COVID-19 concerns, to focus on fighting for social justice or for personal reasons. The WNBA’s 2020 season started Saturday, July 25, at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, which is the sole place they’ll play in a secured bubble location.

Kyrie Irving created a fund to assist those WNBA players who chose to sit out of the current season. (Photo: Mike Stobe / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images)

The money is coming through Irving’s newly launched KAI Empowerment Initiative, which will also provide financial literacy tips from investment banking company USB.

Some of the WNBA players who’ve chosen to sit out to focus on social justice include Renee Montgomery and Tiffany Hayes of the Atlanta Dream, as well as Natasha Cloud from the Washington Mystics.

Other WNBA players like Jonquel Jones of the Connecticut Sun and LaToya Sanders of the Mystics opted to sit out for health reasons.

Irving said that he spoke with several WNBA players with the help of the Mystics’ Natasha Cloud and Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd, who are also sitting out this season. During those conversations, the players talked about the financial repercussions they’ll face for not playing.

“Whether a person decided to fight for social justice, play basketball, focus on physical or mental health, or simply connect with their families, this initiative can hopefully support their priorities and decisions,” said Irving in a statement.

To qualify for the funds, players have to explain why they’ve chosen to sit out this season, and they can’t be making money elsewhere. If they choose not to participate this season for health reasons, their decision has to be related to COVID-19 in some way.

Players can apply for the funds through the initiative’s website and must do so by August 11. Those who will receive some of the money will be told on August 24.

Although Irving’s Brooklyn Nets will be one of the 22 NBA teams to play in Orlando’s bubble location at Walt Disney World Resort, he’s not participating in the wake of his season-ending shoulder surgery in March, which he’s still recovering from.

In June, Irving and Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley held a conference call with more than 80 NBA and WNBA players. The call was to discuss what they considered the potential harmful effects of playing this season while protests for racial equality are going on.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top