SAN FRANCISCO — The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries were off the court for the national anthem before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals at Chase Center on Saturday, then returned soon after the performance ended, according to Fox News’ account of the pregame events.
Both teams had been on the floor warming up before leaving for roughly the two minutes the anthem took to perform. They jogged back onto the court almost immediately after the singer finished. The report did not establish why either team left, and the teams’ reasons were not immediately clear.
The timing drew attention because the players departed shortly before the anthem and returned just afterward. The account raised questions about whether the absence was connected to pregame preparation, but offered no confirmation of that explanation.
The report also cited an Atlanta Dream game note from Aug. 2, 2020, which included a statement from the WNBA players’ union about anthem protests. The union said at the time that the anthem did not represent freedom, justice and liberty for all Americans and indicated that protests would continue in different forms. That statement dates to the 2020 season; the report did not link it to the teams’ actions at the Finals game six years later.
The account compared Saturday’s scene with an incident before an LSU women’s basketball game against Iowa in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. It said Iowa’s players stood together during the anthem while LSU’s players were not on the floor. LSU coach Kim Mulkey told the reporter afterward that she did not know when the anthem had been played. She explained that LSU’s routine involved leaving the court at the 12-minute mark before tipoff for pregame preparations, and said the absence was not intentional.
That earlier explanation concerned LSU and does not establish why Atlanta or Golden State left the floor in San Francisco. No explanation from either WNBA team was included in the supplied account. The available details establish when the teams left and returned, but not their intent or whether the timing reflected a planned routine.
