The Aporia · Players in WNBA Finals tuning out President Trump, other outside noise, say their focus on the games

Players in WNBA Finals tuning out President Trump, other outside noise, say their focus on the games

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Feinberg, D. (2026, October 23). Players in WNBA Finals tuning out President Trump, other outside noise, say their focus on the games. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/players-in-wnba-finals-tuning-out-president-trump-other-outside-noise-say-their-focus-on-the-games/article_24b4ffc0-0e74-5828-a74d-daca753286da.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

Players in the WNBA Finals are ignoring President Donald Trump's criticism of them for leaving the court prior to the national anthem, focusing instead on preparing for their games. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray and others echo her sentiment that they are not engaging with social media commentary or listening to outside noise; they prioritize team unity and game preparation. Trump’s comments at a rally in Iowa included calls for fans to boycott the WNBA due to players' actions during pre-game routines, which have long been used by teams to address social justice issues or continue warm-up preparations.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Players in the WNBA Finals are focusing solely on their games despite criticism from President Donald Trump, who has called for a boycott of the league over players leaving the court before the national anthem is played. In response, Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray stated her concentration is on the finals and not social media commentary. This comes after Trump criticized WNBA players during a rally in Iowa and also targeted NBA player LeBron James for his actions during the anthem performance at Philadelphia’s season opener. Players from both Atlanta and Golden State teams echoed Gray's sentiment, emphasizing their dedication to game preparations and minimizing external distractions.

Written for “WNBA Finals Ignore President Trump” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Why this leaning score

The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.

Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.

Leaning score withheld for article 103240: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-24

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

OutKick readers blast WNBA players for hiding during Finals national anthem different event · 95%

Fox News

⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 3% hedged 2 of 66 📰 publisher trust 67

“The articles discuss different time periods and perspectives related to the national anthem incident, with Article A focusing on reactions immediately following the incident and Article B reporting players' responses several days later.”

WNBA anthem controversy sparks calls to bar players who don't stand from Team USA's Olympic roster different event · 90%

Fox News

⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 41 📰 publisher trust 67

“While both articles discuss reactions to players' decision to leave the court during the national anthem, Article A focuses on Riley Gaines's call for consequences for athletes who don't stand during the anthem, whereas Article B reports players' responses and focus on games amidst criticism from President Trump.”

Grow up, WNBA — enough with the National Anthem boycott different event · 85%

New York Post

⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 10% hedged 1 of 10 📰 publisher trust 66

“The articles refer to different times: Article A describes the incident during Game 1 of the finals on Sunday, while Article B discusses players' reactions and focus ahead of Game 4 on a later day.”

JD Vance condemns ‘disgraceful’ protests at WNBA Finals, says players need to show more respect different event · 80%

New York Post

⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 24 📰 publisher trust 66

“The articles cover different aspects of the protests, with Article A focusing on JD Vance's condemnation of the protest and Article B focusing on players' reactions to criticism from President Trump.”

Valkyries, Dream continue to snub anthem at WNBA Finals as Vance calls protest ‘disgraceful’ different event · 75%

New York Post

⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 7% hedged 1 of 14 📰 publisher trust 66

“While both articles discuss protests during the National Anthem at the WNBA Finals, they describe different aspects of the situation—Article A reports on a specific instance where players left before the anthem for Game 3, while Article B covers player reactions and focus ahead of Game 4.”

Valkyries and Dream ditch National Anthem for second game in a row during WNBA Finals different event · 70%

New York Post

⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 9% hedged 1 of 11 📰 publisher trust 66

“Article A describes the teams leaving the court during the National Anthem for Game 2, while Article B covers players' reactions to President Trump's criticism regarding their actions and their focus on the games.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

0 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

withheld

no quote in the article backed the model's score

Publisher signals

64/100

Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Sports

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

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Publisher

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Running correction rate · 25 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Doug Feinberg

28 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction

🔮 Gray briefly left Game 3 after Gabby Williams made contact with her injured hand.

2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Allisha Gray plays through a hand injury as the Dream lead the WNBA Finals 2-1

🔮 The Atlanta Dream have imposed their will defensively on Golden State in the WNBA Finals so far, using their size and strength to dominate the Valkyries.

2026-10-22 · assertive framing · Atlanta Dream smother Golden State, riding a bruising defense to a 2-1 WNBA Finals lead

🔮 So I definitely will miss it.

2026-10-21 · assertive framing · A packed State Farm Arena awaits as the Dream host their first WNBA Finals game in 13 years

🔮 Engelbert described traits that would help her successor.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · WNBA's Cathy Engelbert says a search firm is vetting candidates to replace her

🔮 The WNBA will crown a first-time champion with the Golden State Valkyries and the Atlanta Dream playing for the title in the best-of-seven series that starts Saturday.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · A first-time WNBA champion awaits as the Valkyries and Dream open the Finals

🔮 Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

2026-10-13 · assertive framing · WNBA moves up Game 3 of Finals by a day to allow Atlanta Dream to host Valkyries at State Farm Arena

🔮 New York will be making its third appearance in the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs in the past four years when the Liberty play the Atlanta Dream on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-five series.

2026-10-03 · assertive framing · New York Liberty face the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals

🔮 Minnesota couldn’t get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

2026-09-30 · assertive framing · No. 8-seeded Liberty sweep top-seeded Lynx 87-71 in quarterfinals, advance to WNBA semifinals

🔮 Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers are set to make their WNBA postseason debuts while Caitlin Clark returns to the playoffs after missing last season because of injury.

2026-09-26 · assertive framing · A new playoff spotlight: Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers set for their WNBA postseason debuts

🔮 “I know the betting people will have favorites and that sort of thing.

2026-09-25 · assertive framing · Evenly matched WNBA playoffs has everyone believing they have legitimate title shot

Also by Doug Feinberg

Allisha Gray plays through a hand injury as the Dream lead the WNBA Finals 2-1

2026-10-23 · Toronto Star

Angel Reese fuels Atlanta Dream’s WNBA Finals surge and is now 2 wins from her first title

2026-10-23 · Toronto Star

Indiana Fever fire GM Amber Cox, AP source says

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Atlanta Dream smother Golden State, riding a bruising defense to a 2-1 WNBA Finals lead

2026-10-22 · Toronto Star

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 28 articles by Doug Feinberg →

Topics

ATLANTA Iowa NBA WNBA the WNBA Finals

Subjects

WNBA ORG · 7× Trump PERSON · 5× ATLANTA GPE · 3× Iowa GPE · 2× NBA ORG · 2× Allisha Gray PERSON · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Dream ORG · 1× Gray PERSON · 1× LeBron James PERSON · 1×

Narrative

As for James, a four-time Olympic medalist, the president said the 76ers forward disrespected the United States after he appeared to continue his warmups while the national anthem was performed before Philadelphia’s season opener on Tuesday.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24

2026-10-24 · Toronto Star

Players in WNBA Finals tuning out President Trump, other outside noise, say their focus on the games · assertive framing

Claims (19 extracted, 0 hedged)

Players in the WNBA Finals say they are concentrating on preparing for the upcoming game and not President Donald Trump’s criticism of them and others in the league for leaving the court prior to the national anthem being played. asserted

anthem → say → court

“I’m focused on the finals,” Atlanta guard Allisha Gray said Friday at the Dream’s practice ahead of Saturday’s Game 4. asserted

Gray → ’m → Game

”I am not really on social media and listening to what people are saying. asserted

people → listen → what

Trump spoke at a rally on Thursday in Iowa and criticized WNBA players for leaving the court before the national anthem is played, and called for a boycott of the league. asserted

anthem → speak → league

He had lashed out on social media at the WNBA, along with NBA icon LeBron James for his actions during the anthem, but also called for fans to not watch the WNBA. asserted

fans → lash → WNBA

Several of Gray’s Atlanta teammates and Golden State players shared her sentiments, saying they were tuning out anything that didn’t have to do with game preparations. “For me it’s staying off social media. asserted

it → share → media

It’s just going inward with our teammates and staff,” Valkyries forward Kiah Stokes said. asserted

Stokes → go → teammates

Trump mentioned at the Iowa rally that WNBA players have been leaving the court before the national anthem is played. asserted

anthem → mention → court

Leaving the court before the anthem is not a recent development in the WNBA. asserted

Leaving → leave → WNBA

It has been part of many teams’ pregame routine for years, dating back to at least when the league played the entire 2020 season in Florida because of the coronavirus pandemic. asserted

league → date → pandemic

“By the way, what’s going on with the women’s NBA? asserted

what → go → NBA

What’s that all about?” the president said at the rally. asserted

president → ’ → rally

“You know, they’ll destroy themselves before they get started, because they just started to do good.” asserted

they → know → good

Trump went on to say that fans should stop viewing WNBA games because the players don’t stay for the anthem. which is played 10 minutes before the end of pregame warmups. asserted

which → go → warmups

Teams have left the court to raise awareness for social justice issues or simply to continue to prepare for the game. asserted

Teams → leave → game

“You know the NFL did that for a while and they stopped because people stopped watching the games,” Trump said. asserted

Trump → know → games

“I think you should do the same thing with women’s basketball.” asserted

you → think → basketball

The WNBA had no comment on Trump’s speech. asserted

WNBA → have → speech

anthem → say → Tuesday