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The WNBA appears to have no answer for the dildos that continue to be heaved onto courts across the league.
Two dildos were thrown onto the court in Chicago late Thursday night, bringing the total number of dildos that have reached WNBA courts to at least five.
The first was at the Gateway Center Arena, where the Atlanta Dream play, on July 29. The next incident happened during the Sky’s game against the Golden State Valkyries on Aug. 1 at Wintrust Arena. On Aug. 5, a dildo reached the court during the Los Angeles Sparks game against the Indiana Fever at Crypto.com Arena, hitting the leg of Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
There have been at least three other incidents of dildos being thrown at WNBA games, including at Barclays Center and the PHX Arena in Phoenix, but in those cases they did not reach the court.
“The safety of everyone in our arenas remains a top priority,” a league spokesperson told Front Office Sports on Friday evening. “We are working closely with local and federal law enforcement to pursue all appropriate actions—including arrest and prosecution with felony charges where applicable—against anyone engaged in this conduct or otherwise involved in sponsoring this reckless and unacceptable behavior.”
Two men have been arrested: 23-year-old Delbert Carver in Georgia, and 18-year-old Kaden Lopez in Phoenix.
Carver has been charged with criminal trespassing, public indecency, and disorderly conduct, while Lopez was charged with disorderly conduct, assault, and public display of explicit sexual material.
Carver is out on bond, and his case is listed as pending in Clayton County. According to court documents, there is a preliminary hearing scheduled for Lopez on Aug. 25.
The Liberty are working with the New York Police Department to investigate an incident at Tuesday night’s game against the Dallas Wings in which a dildo was apparently thrown. A video posted to social media showed it did not reach the court, but got close, surprising a fan sitting near the visiting tunnel.
The cryptocurrency promoters who say they’re behind many of the incidents said Lopez was one of them, but Carver was not. FOS asked if they were responsible for Thursday night’s Chicago incident, and they responded, “I think it was Trump,” along with the cry-laughing emoji and a meme Donald Trump Jr. shared of his father throwing a dildo from the White House roof.
A spokesperson for the Women’s National Basketball Players Association shared a statement from union executive director Terri Jackson that said the league is investigating the issue.
“Upon our request for an update, the league advised the players’ union that it was investigating claims that individuals were being incentivized to carry out these unsafe stunts,” Jackson said.
“Incentivized” may be referring to the crypto coin some throwers are promoting, or the fact that Polymarket has offered prediction markets on whether dildos will be thrown at particular games.
Polymarket has not responded to questions about whether it would void bets from anyone found to have thrown the objects themselves; it is technically not legal to use in the United States, although it is accessible through a VPN.
The WNBA has 10 games slated between Friday and Sunday.
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