While we await the WNBA Finals, the current fixation lies in the ongoing culture wars that have taken center stage in the league this season. Netflix and USA Sports anchor Elle Duncan is back in the spotlight with her opinion of black players in the league, who are becoming easy targets to hate, according to her.
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On her October 13 appearance at Front Office Sports’ Tuned In Summit, Duncan claimed that “It feels like open season to dunk on Black women because we do not have protection. Because no one cares.” She added that such opportunists target the Black women covering the league, including herself.
While Duncan was pretty stern in addressing this topic, WNBA broadcaster Robin Lundberg is on the other side of the fence, as he believes Duncan is only showing the tip of the iceberg, which favors her.
“What is disingenuous is not taking accountability for the role the WNBA media played in all this. They played a role by basically flipping the double bird to all the new fans who came in and labeling them a certain way. You’re racist, you’re MAGA, you’re homophobic. That is not a welcoming environment either, right? Lundberg opposed Duncan’s statement on his YouTube channel.
“I think the WNBA could stand from being more welcoming in general across the board, but Elle herself has said, Caitlin Clark, you need to stop that. It gives so much power as a league to social media, by the way, the worst actors and the worst cesspool part of social media. But there’s never a 360 view on the entire situation.” Lundberg added.
While pushing back on Duncan’s comments, the WNBA broadcaster believes she is overlooking how their own coverage has contributed to the hostility. This can be traced back to July, when USA Today faced significant public backlash for its opinion column on Caitlin Clark.
Lundberg also suggested the WNBA media helped create the division by treating some of the league’s new fans as a problem. But he is not the only one who has put Duncan on the hot seat following her latest comments. WNBA content creator Rosalina Lee, who has also written for Indiana Fever on Sports Illustrated, expressed a similar sentiment to that of Lundberg.
“You don’t get to light a match and walk away from the flame. She was part of the problem. If you’re going to speak on the problem, tell the whole story, not just half that serves your narrative. Otherwise, you’re not helping solve anything. You’re helping it grow.” Lee wrote.
As for Elle Duncan, this is not her first rodeo when discussing this matter. In an August 14 episode of “WHYY’s Sports in America” podcast, Duncan told host David Greene that the WNBA is the “most toxic space to cover,” and that it is “incredibly frustrating and sad.”
Elle Duncan’s criticism has also usually involved Caitlin Clark, whose talents she has praised and whom she has referred to as the “one person” the “opportunists see in their own image.”
Speaking on the Sports Gossip Show earlier this year, Duncan called out the Indiana Fever star, saying that she should take the initiative to publicly distance herself from supporters who allegedly use her name to advance their own agendas.
But the anchor faced backlash here as well, with Clark fans on social media completely disagreeing with her view while saying that the 24-year-old had already addressed these issues before and that placing more responsibility on her shoulders seems unfair.
This can be traced back to Clark’s rookie year, when she pushed back against online commenters who have used her name in discussions to denigrate other WNBA players.
“People should not be using my name to push those agendas. It’s disappointing. It’s not acceptable… Treating every single woman in this league with the same amount of respect, I think, it’s just a basic human thing that everybody should do.” Clark said back in 2024, according to ESPN.
The connection here is that since Clark joined the Fever as the No. 1 overall draft pick two years ago, there have been instances where Black players have revealed the amount of hate they receive after on-court incidents with the guard.
During a game between the Indiana Fever and the Phoenix Mercury in June, Alyssa Thomas received a Flagrant Foul 2 and a one-game suspension for “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area” of Clark. The forward later revealed she received death threats and was called racial slurs. She also called out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert for her failure to better protect the league’s players.
Another incident occurred in a playoff series between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky back in 2024, when former Sun guard DiJonai Carrington shared an email in which she received racial slurs alongside sexual assault threats. Her then-teammate Alyssa Thomas called out the Fever fans behind the comments Carrington received.
Carrington was infamously involved in another controversy this season, once again while facing the Fever back in August. The Chicago Sky guard received a Flagrant 2 Foul after making contact with Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s head while attempting to stop a fast-break layup.
Sophie Cunningham has been a primary figure in the WNBA culture wars this season. She deemed the foul “unnecessary” from Carrington after the game. However, social media buzzed more about what happened after the ejection. Immediately after heading to the locker room, Carrington took to Instagram Threads and wrote: “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever”.
Carrington later revealed her post was about a broader systemic issue rather than the foul decision, while Cunningham made it clear that her race played no role in the officials’ decision.
While the biggest event in women’s basketball will obviously hide such culture wars in the coming weeks, it is safe to presume that they are not lighting down soon. Perhaps the new WNBA commissioner will fix things that Engelbert could not, and Elle Duncan wants someone with “at least a background in basketball” to be in charge up next.