{"id":809736,"date":"2026-07-19T07:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T07:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809736\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T07:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T07:15:17","slug":"basketball-2026-aussie-wnba-coach-sandy-brondello-suspended-for-calling-angel-reese-a-protected-species-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809736\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball 2026: Aussie WNBA coach Sandy Brondello suspended for calling Angel Reese a protected species, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Champion Australian basketball coach Sandy Brondello has been suspended for using the phrase \u201cprotected species\u201d when referring to a WNBA player.<\/p>\n<p>Brondello, a star player and coach in the WNBA and WNBL and also the coach of the Opals, now leads the expansion side Toronto Tempo in the American league.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the WNBA 2026 All Star Game LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/ussports?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkbasketball-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-basketball-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>But she will miss their next game having been suspended for the comment made about polarising Atlanta Dream star Angel Reese late this week.<\/p>\n<p>Brondello was talking to the officials about one of her players being called for a foul on Reese, and could be overheard calling her a \u201cprotected species\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase is commonly used in Australian sport to refer to athletes who get favourable calls. But in an American context it was taken to have a derogatory use, particularly given Reese is black.<\/p>\n<p>Reese tweeted about Brondello: \u201cARE WE SURPRISED?! @SBrondello (clown face emoji)\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Sandy Brondello of the New York Liberty reacts during the first half against the Washington Mystics at Barclays Center on September 09, 2025 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n<p>Brondello has since apologised, posting: \u201cAngel, I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast night, in the emotion of the moment after Nyara\u2019s injury, I used a phrase that I shouldn\u2019t have used, and I take full responsibility for that. My frustration was with the officiating, but my words unfairly put the focus on you.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also understand that my words carried an impact beyond what I intended, particularly for Black women in our league, and I\u2019m deeply sorry for that. I\u2019ve spent my career competing with, coaching and learning from incredible Black women.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI regret that my words caused hurt to a community I respect so deeply,\u201d she added. \u201cI have a lot of respect for you as both a player and a person, and I sincerely apologise to you, your teammates, and the Dream organisation for my comment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a statement confirming the ban, the WNBA said: \u201cThe WNBA expects all coaches and team personnel to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and respect that are fundamental to our league.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The league is currently booming but continues to get involved in \u2018culture war\u2019 incidents, many of them surrounding superstar Caitlin Clark, who is white.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theringer.com\/2026\/07\/10\/wnba\/wnba-caitlin-clark-donald-trump-republican-house-letter\" title=\"www.theringer.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">The Ringer\u2019s Seerat Sohi wrote last week<\/a> in a widely-praised feature, \u201cthe WNBA\u2019s failure to manage Clark\u2019s arrival created this opening, allowing right-wing grifters to hijack a story the WNBA failed to seize hold of, and essentially allowing the league to become a political punching bag.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Champion Australian basketball coach Sandy Brondello has been suspended for using the phrase \u201cprotected species\u201d when referring to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-809736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}