Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby said she received a racist text message from an unknown number two days after she was ejected from a WNBA game for elbowing Connecticut Sun forward Raegan Beers in the face.
Hamby was thrown out of Saturday's game for a flagrant foul after elbowing Beers. She suggested the elbow came in response to Beers hitting her in the stomach earlier in the contest.
Hamby posted a screenshot of the message, which read: "Dirty as n*****. They should put you in a zoo. Animal." The text was followed by a monkey emoji.
Hamby shared the image with her followers and asked, "Anyone know this number?" Several fans said they were able to trace it to a man in New Jersey.
Some of those fans went on to share details they said they had found about the man, including his political affiliation, a prior court case and his employer. Others said they had reported the messages to that employer's human resources department.
Ejection for elbow to Beers' face
Hamby was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and had her night end early after the elbow left Beers in pain on the court. Hamby was seen clutching her own stomach after the earlier contact from Beers that she suggested prompted the retaliation.
Pattern of racial abuse in the WNBA
Hamby is not the only WNBA player to face racist abuse this season after being involved in a hard foul.
The biggest controversy came earlier this year when Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was hit in the throat by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas as the two players dove for a loose ball. The league retroactively suspended Thomas, who is Black, for the play.
Thomas said she and her family, including her wife and children, received death threats and racial abuse from Clark's online fanbase. "Our families are being threatened," Thomas told reporters. "Kids are being threatened. People are sending racial slurs and all types of stuff."
"There's a difference between trolling and there's a difference between hatred," she continued. "The hatred that we're experiencing over a play that was, honestly, a complete accident, no one even knew what happened, it's just unfortunate."
Clark publicly disavowed the hate directed at Thomas. "As I've stood up here and said before, like the harassment, the hate, none of that is okay," Clark told reporters. "That goes for the opposing team we play, that goes for my teammates, that goes for my coaches, there should never be a question of character."
Chelsea Gray also targeted
Days after the Thomas incident, Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray was also targeted over contact she made with Clark.
Gray was posted up against Clark in the paint when she pivoted and drove her elbow into the Fever guard's midsection, causing Clark to double over in pain. Officials reviewed the play for a hostile act, found no reason to escalate the call, and upheld the original ruling of a foul on Clark for flopping.
Like Thomas, Gray said she received racist direct messages from Clark's fans and shared some of them publicly. "People act like we just make this s*** up," Gray wrote in her caption. "And the audacity to tell us as athletes to 'shut up and dribble.'"
