NBA And WNBA Players Reacted To The Grand Jury Decision In Breonna Taylor’s Case

On Wednesday afternoon, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced the decision from a grand jury regarding charges for the three officers who raided the home of Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend in late March and killed Taylor, who was unarmed. Cameron announced that only one officer (Sgt. Brett Hankison) would be charged at all, and that his crime was merely “wanton endangerment” for firing shots into other apartments, unrelated to Taylor’s death. Athletes across the NBA and WNBA, who have called and fought for justice in this case all summer, responded swiftly on social media.

In particular, alumni of the University of Louisville, near where Taylor lived and was killed, criticized their adopted home for the way it handled the case and handed down limited charges.

Many others responded as well, including fervent criminal justice reform advocate and a leader in the WNBA’s push to support Taylor’s family and case, Layshia Clarendon.

Washington Mystics center Tianna Hawkins, whose son the team rallied around all year in an effort to create a brighter and less dangerous future for him, questioned how the charges on Hankison could be considered justice at all.

Chicago Sky head coach James Wade, one of only two Black head coaches in the WNBA, called out how little Black life means to society when it comes to serving justice.

Veteran leaders in the NBA responded too, arguing that the settlement the city came to with Taylor’s family and this one simple charge are far from real justice for Taylor’s killing.

All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins put into context the hypocrisy of these charges, which he called a “slap on the wrist,” for malfeasance that resulted in the death of an average citizen compared with the extreme charges we’ve seen against protestors all summer.

Expect to hear more from around the two leagues as the day continues. The WNBA dedicated its entire season to Breonna Taylor, whose name is on the back of each player’s jersey this year. Players across the NBA have held media blackouts in order to draw attention to her case and have redirected conversations back to charging the officers who killed her. Now that the decision is out and the opposite has happened, we are seeing an extremely frustrated reaction across basketball.