Every major professional sports league in America agreed to wear the USA 250 commemorative patch this summer — the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, all of them. Every league except one. The WNBA quietly declined to put the patch on jerseys for its All-Star game on July 25.
Brianna Turner, the WNBPA Treasurer and Las Vegas Aces forward, took to X to lay out the reasoning. "No WNBA players would have been free 250 years ago," Turner wrote. "The majority wouldn't even have their freedom 100 years ago."
She wasn't done. In a follow-up post, Turner doubled down: "We are some of the most elite female athletes. 250 years ago, we would have been breeders or in the fields working all day. Be so serious rn."
So there it is. The country that built the infrastructure, the legal system, the free-market economy, and the professional sports leagues that allow Brianna Turner to earn a living playing basketball — that country isn't worth a patch on a jersey. Because 1776 wasn't perfect by 2026 standards.
The reaction online was swift. "Imagine being butthurt over the birthday of the country you live in," wrote one commenter, Will Applebee. Melik Abdul put it more directly: "Or, you can just celebrate the 250th of the world's greatest nation. History isn't meant to be avoided." Willis Eschenbach called it "the most bizarre take ever" and asked, "Shouldn't we celebrate progress and freedom for all?"
Turner represented the United States in FIBA championships in 2012, 2013, and 2014. She wore "USA" across her chest voluntarily. She competed under the American flag on the international stage. Apparently that was fine. But a small patch on a jersey during an All-Star game — that's where the line gets drawn.
What makes the WNBA's refusal stand out isn't just the politics — it's the isolation. The NBA, a league not exactly known for its conservative fan outreach, wore the patch. The NFL wore it. Major League Soccer wore it. These are leagues with diverse rosters, diverse front offices, and diverse ownership groups. None of them found the 250th birthday of the United States too offensive to acknowledge.
Only the WNBA decided that commemorating America's founding was a bridge too far.
The WNBA has spent years asking America to watch its product, buy its merchandise, and take women's basketball seriously as a major professional sport. Every broadcast negotiation, every expansion franchise, every marketing push is a request directed at the American public: support us.
And when that public celebrates the country's 250th anniversary — the milestone that every other league found worth honoring — the WNBA's answer is no thanks.
There's a word for an organization that depends entirely on a country's prosperity, freedom, and consumer economy while refusing to acknowledge the birthday of that country. Several words, actually. But the one that fits best is "ungrateful."
