ATLANTA, GA – Following the Toronto Tempo and Atlanta Dream game on Friday night, audio was released where Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello was heard calling Dream forward Angel Reese a “protected species” after Reese fouled Nyara Sabally.
After the post-game interviews, upon the audio leaking, Reese took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to post the following.
On Saturday, Brondello offered an apology to Angel and the Dream organization on her X account.
Sources tell The IX Sports that Brondello reached out to Dream general manager Dan Padover Saturday morning in an attempt to speak to Reese directly.
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When asked about Brondello reaching out to him directly, head coach Karl Smesko said that, “Sandy had talked to somebody in the organization.”
After Brondello made her apology, the WNBA announced that she would receive a one-game suspension for her comments toward Reese.
“I’ve been staying off social media, so I didn’t find out until after we had landed,” Smesko told The IX Sports of when he first learned about Brondello’s comments. “That was the first that I heard about it. As for the penalty, the league looked at it and they took it seriously. We appreciate that, and we let the league handle the discipline with that. They make those decisions.”
Prior to the Dream’s game on Sunday against the Chicago Sky, the team’s public relations staff made Tier 1 media members aware that Reese would be available to speak and had a statement prepared.
“I’m sure everyone knows about the situation that happened last game, and I’m going to address this one time. First, I appreciate Sandy’s apology, but also appreciate the love and support that I have had for the last 48 hours. It has been very overwhelming with a lot of love and also other things. But I am grateful that the league did take action on what the situation had happened, there is no place for discrimination or hate in this league from anyone, from fans to coaches to players, and I’m just grateful that we are able to move off in the situation and just play winning basketball. 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 met with the media for nine more minutes but did not take any additional questions about the incident.
“I checked on Angel just to make sure she was doing OK,” Smesko told The IX Sports. “Anything that we had to say is going to be private. But we had some communication.”
While the Dream were preparing for their game against the Sky, Brondello addressed the Tempo media members offering an additional statement – her first since getting suspended.
“I apologize to Angel. I wanted to put that out as soon as I woke up and I rached out to [Atlanta’s] GM and asked him to speak to Angel because she doesn’t really know me very well. I have a ton of respect for her and I wanted to make sure that she knew it was a heated, emotional statement, and it’s a statement that’s very common in Australia, and it wasn’t directed at Angel. I would never do that to any kind of player. That’s not the kind of coach I am or a player back in my day, and it was just unfortunate. I was pretty emotional with Nyara, her being injured again, and I made a comment that Australians, we say all the time.
“I should have taken a breath and realized where I am, and what it’s like in America because I know racism is such a big issue here. I’ve been in this league 27 years, and I have never had any issues like this because these are all my teammates, and I’ve learned so much from Black players that I’ve coached and that I’ve had on staff. I know I’m not a racist, so it’s a really unfortunate situation.
“I want to apologize whenever Angel’s ready. I have reached out to their oganization and in a very sincere way because I never want that to happen to anyone. I felt mad at myself because I’m a part of the solution, not the problem. Hopefully, I can have that chat, and she gets to know me and my heart. I think everyone else that I’ve coached in this league, they know that, and what I’m about.
“I’ll try to be better as I move forward. I did make a mistake. I’ll try and keep my, Australianisms, I suppose, out. It was never meant to be personal. So, I am truly sorry and, you know, hopefully she’s doing OK.”
The Dream’s next game will come July 29 in Dallas against the Wings following the All-Star break.
Brondello will serve her one-game suspension on Monday when the Tempo host the Las Vegas Aces before they head into the All-Star break.
