The "protected species" comment by Toronto Tempo's head coach Sandy Brondello for Atlanta Dream's Angel Reese was last week's biggest storyline in the WNBA. A week later, Fever's center Aliyah Boston has addressed the controversy.

On Wednesday, July 23, Boston sat with WNBA legend Candace Parker for another episode of their podcast. The Fever star also questioned the WNBA coach not understanding "racial slurs."

"You can't make those. You can't," she said on the Post Moves podcast.

Brondello made the controversial comment during the July 17 game between the Dream and the Tempo. Since then, the league suspended Brondello for one game without pay. Brondello later apologized and defended herself, saying that it was a phrase in Australia.

Boston's stark rejection echoed the league's swift one-game suspension of Brondello.

"We're not going to go for intent. We're going to go for what actually was said and holding those people accountable," Parker added on Wednesday's episode of Post Moves.

During a play in the last minutes of the fourth quarter in last Friday’s game, Tempo’s Nyara Sabally was called for a defensive foul on Reese. Sabally fell to the floor, immediately requiring medical attention.

While Brondello watched her player on the floor, she yelled at the referee, Toni Patillo, that Reese was a “protected species."

Reese called out the Tempo head coach on social media. She wrote, "Are we surprised?" and tagged Brondello with a clown emoji.

Before the Chicago Sky game on Sunday, July 19, Reese again addressed Brondello's apology and the comment.

Angel Reese addresses Sandy Brondello's apology

Brondello had said that she had reached out to the league, the Dream team, and Reese herself. On Sunday, Reese accepted Brondello's apology while speaking to the reporters.

"First, I appreciate Sandy’s apology, but I also appreciate the love and support that I’ve had for the last 48 hours,” she said before the Dream played the Sky. "It has been very overwhelming with a lot of love and also other things. But I am grateful that the league did take action."

The WNBA was proactive in taking proper action against Brondello, announcing the suspension the next day. Reese also received a lot of support on social media since the comment.

"There is no place for discrimination or hate in this league from anyone, from fans to coaches to players. The WNBA is supposed to be positive, and we are going in a great light right now. So I just want to continue that and move forward," Reese added.

The league has seen an unprecedented upward direction in the last few years. However, stories outside basketball have also become overwhelming.

Perhaps it is a normal course before the league solidifies itself. But controversies have been a big distraction for the WNBA.

Do you think the WNBA is handling these off-court controversies the right way? What are your thoughts on this?

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Utsav Gupta