The Chicago Sky's season opener against the Indiana Fever was an eventful game, but unfortunately not for entirely good reasons. The contest set social media ablaze in the following days after Caitlin Clark landed a flagrant foul on Angel Reese, and the fallout even triggered a WNBA investigation. However, Sky head coach Tyler Marsh says the allegations came as news to him.
“I think we're in compliance with the league, and obviously there's no room or space in our game for hate,” Marsh began. After being asked when he became aware of the alleged hate speech that some W fans have been calling out online, Marsh simply answered, “When everyone else did.
“You know, it's something that we heard about, and you know, again, we're just forthcoming with anything that the league is able to do investigation-wise,” Marsh added.
Tyler Marsh says the Sky were not aware of any hate speech during the game and only found out reports from social media. the WNBA investigation is based on social media reports pic.twitter.com/5fQz5dKjvZ
— correlation (@nosyone4) May 20, 2025
After the Fever's 93-58 victory, the WNBA released a statement on social media. “The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or society,” it read. “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.”
The allegations also drew a response from Reese, who definitively stated, “There's no place in this league for that.” Clark also backed up Reese's sentiment, saying, “There's no place for that in our game, there's no place for that in society.”
The controversy surrounding the league comes just days after the W announced the “No Space for Hate” initiative to combat instances of hate speech and vitriolic actions aimed at players. The WNBA has said it won't provide another update until the investigation has fully concluded.