Team USA women’s basketball recently showed their support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart declared their support for the likely Democratic nominees, emphasizing the importance of voting rights and reproductive rights in this election season.
Voting and abortion rights have been attacked by the Trump administration and are in danger as the far right aims to limit access to medical procedures; the former president has also gone on record boasting about the fact that he “killed Roe v Wade,” a landmark law that protected women’s rights for nearly 50 years before he entered office.
Today, two WNBA players who will star for the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics said they plan to put their support behind Kamala Harris’ run for president.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 27, 2024
Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson.@ChantelJennings has more ⤵️https://t.co/r3l5GODdSv pic.twitter.com/d85xykZzEa
“Because everything that we’ve been kind of working for this year … has been about voting rights, reproductive rights,” said Breanna Stewart per CNN. “The things she [Harris] stands for, we also stand for. So making sure that we can definitely stay united and continue to push the message of registering to vote, knowing where to vote and all the resources behind it.”
Two days after declaring their support once again, the women put in another slam dunk performance with a hard-fought 87-73 win over Belgium, advancing to the quarterfinals.
The women’s team is in good company, as their men’s counterparts also recently showed support for the sitting vice president. Both Golden State Warriors Steph Curry and coach Steve Kerr emphasized the importance of Harris winning against Trump, calling it “a big deal, to say the least.”
On the other side of the field, a Las Vegas Raider defensive end rusher showed his support for Trump after the former president was shot at. On a post depicting himself with Trump, he captioned the post with three goat emojis.
Former football wide receiver Antonio Brown has also been linked to supporting Trump, claiming that he thinks he’s been “a good businessman and comes from a good family and has been a good president.” One of the reasons given behind his endorsement has reportedly been the work Trump has done for hip-hop artists, referring to the pardons given to Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.
Through athletes, both candidates can benefit from the attention their support can draw. In a world where their span reaches over 150 million people nationwide in the case of LeBron James, sports players are stars in their own right.
As people continue to tune into the Olympics, athletes also have an extra shine to their spotlight that they can share with the presidential candidates.
With just about 94 days left until Election Day, the world will have to wait to see if it’ll be Harris or Trump who ends up making the winning shot.
