The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries left the court for the national anthem before the first two games of the WNBA Finals, putting a league rule and the people enforcing it under a spotlight on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
That spotlight widened on Tuesday when questions were sent to Mike Bass about whether the NBA had any role in the matter, whether discipline was being considered and whether the teams would be told to be present for the anthem before Wednesday’s Game 3. The NBA did not answer by the deadline, and the WNBA and both teams also had not responded to repeated inquiries.
The issue is not complicated on paper. The WNBA’s 2026 official rulebook calls for players, coaches and trainers to stand and line up along the sidelines or foul line during the anthem. Yet the Dream and Valkyries were off the court before Games 1 and 2, creating a visible mismatch between the rule and the reality fans saw before the opening tip.
That mismatch matters because Bass’s job spans both leagues, and his 2026 Sports PR Summit biography says he oversees public relations for the NBA and WNBA, including basketball and business communications. The NBA Board of Governors approved the women’s league in 1996, and Bass issued an official NBA statement in February 2021 reiterating the league’s requirement that teams play the national anthem. Put simply, the same system that set the framework for the league is now being asked whether it will enforce it.
Joe Concha has argued that sports leagues must enforce their own rules to maintain viewer trust, and this case puts that principle to the test in real time. The anthem itself was not the controversy; Alanis Morissette’s performance before Game 2 at Chase Center in San Francisco was part of the night. The question is why the teams were not on the court when the rulebook says they should be, and whether silence from the league amounts to a decision of its own.
With Wednesday’s Game 3 scheduled and no response yet from the NBA, the WNBA or either team, the next development is not another anthem performance. It is whether the rule is enforced at all, or whether the first two Finals games become the precedent.
