What the WNBA can learn from Sandy Brondello — Brionna Jones talks return

Welcome to Basketball Insider, presented by The BIG EAST Conference. The moment Sandy Brondello was caught on a hot mic during the game between the Toronto Tempo and Atlanta Dream calling Angel Reese a “protected species”, much of what followed was obvious to anyone who has been paying attention to the women’s basketball space.

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The fan reaction on social media was immediate, but was amplified and led to stories on the remark when Reese herself tweeted about it.

What happened next, though, is deeply instructive to teams and the WNBA alike.

Brondello reached out early Saturday morning to the Dream, The IX Sports’ Michael Waterloo reported, looking to speak with Reese directly and immediately. By early Saturday, had Brondello composed an extended apology. It took full responsibility, provided important context and did not shy away from addressing the harm, regardless of intent.

Later Saturday, Brondello spoke with reporters and added further context — that “protected species” is a phrase, in her native Australia, that carries with it absolutely no racial component whatsoever, and refers instead to any athlete who is receiving a better whistle from officials.

It would have been easy for Brondello to go to this first, and it simply would have further inflamed the situation. But by less than 24 hours after the interaction happened, Brondello addressed it, did all she could to make it right in the moment, and furthermore, had a number of people rise to her defense, including her own outspoken forward, Temi Fagbenle.

By the time Reese spoke about it Saturday evening, she also acknowledged and appreciated Brondello’s apology. By Saturday evening, the WNBA issued a one-game suspension. Regardless of how you feel about the action — I can understand why the league did so, and ultimately how I feel about it matters far less than those directly involved and affected — the WNBA moving quickly helped put the story to bed, too. By the Monday morning talk shows, the event was largely old news.

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There is a template here, clearly, for how the WNBA can and should handle negative news. The longer the time between initial incident and response, the more the zone can be flooded with alternate theories. By the time belated responses come, not only is any effort from the WNBA to address the issue in question up against a hardened conventional wisdom, the league itself suffers from two additional problems: criticism that it wasn’t addressed proactively, and the length of time it took to respond at all.

Which brings us to All-Star weekend. As Jackie Powell and I discussed on this week’s podcast — take a listen if you haven’t — it is almost unfathomable that the WNBA’s level of response to security issues isn’t common knowledge already.

I spoke to a dozen folks in every corner of the WNBA, from players and agents to teams and the league itself. There’s a general understanding that the league is doing this well!

And yet: the WNBPA met with the league on Tuesday night over these issues, the implicit lesson from it publicly was that the league wasn’t doing enough. And ahead of time, we heard nothing from the league to get ahead of this notion.

So, as I proposed in the podcast, and will reiterate here: how different would the conversation around WNBA security be if the league had proactively arranged for Cathy Engelbert to sit with trusted reporters and provide chapter and verse on the many ways the league is proactively protecting its players? How much better off would the league be, from a PR standpoint, if every time a player is attacked on social media, it can issue a statement immediately, and simultaneously refer everyone to those same preseason interviews where all of these steps are outlined in great detail? (There are internal changes to communication we address in the podcast, too — this is not merely about public consumption.)

This is vital for the WNBA on issues as significant as protecting players and as small as a misunderstanding that leads to Engelbert and the WNBA getting blasted on The Dan Patrick Show. Engelbert gets it worse than a commissioner like Rob Manfred or Roger Goodell not just because of gender (though I remain convinced that plays a part) but because MLB and the NFL are far better at both putting forward their own messaging ahead of time and responding quickly when negative stories crop up.

So sure, it will matter how Engelbert speaks when she gives her All-Star press conference on Saturday. And that is something she’s improved throughout her tenure. But by the time she stands in front of us, conventional wisdom and the window to respond quickly on a whole host of issues will have already passed. For the WNBA to put this kind of consistent, nagging set of public perception problems to bed, the emphasis has to be on figuring out how to best get ahead of the next one, not to belatedly address the last one.

They can take a page from Sandy Brondello’s playbook when they do so.

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This week in women’s basketball

Talking Points Memo is probably my most trusted news source, so imagine my joy in seeing them address the bad-faith attacks on women’s sports here.

Great stuff from Mitchell Northam on the officiating cooperative in college hoops.

The great Jackie Powell looks at New Jersey product Marina Mabrey’s journey.

Also from New Jersey: Justine Pissott.

Caitlin Clark: good at basketball!

Don’t sleep on how important to the Aces Dana Evans’ return will be.

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Five at The IX: Brionna Jones, Atlanta Dream

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Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer