​Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images, Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn ImagesThe Minnesota Lynx defeated the Golden State Valkyries 77-66 in a defensive slugfest between the top two teams in the WNBA standings on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, not all of the focus leading up to the game was on the clash between the two title contenders.Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham sparked a national debate with her comments on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports in a July 21 profile from ESPN.“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she told ESPN. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”Since her comments, there have been anti-trans rallies outside of multiple WNBA games, including Wednesday’s clash between the Lynx and Valkyries. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve addressed the protest in a presser and made it clear that she feels some people need to “educate themselves further.”“I don’t want to give them any more oxygen than they deserve,” Reeve said of the protesters. “Transgender kids belong. And I think, as we’re seeing sort of politically, in this country, they’ve found a talking point that people are buying into, and the only thing I ask is that people educate themselves further on these issues and what we’re capable of doing. And that something is not used just as rhetoric to marginalize a community.”Reeve wasn’t the only one who felt so strongly about the issue. Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase shared a similar sentiment in her presser.“In the world and in sports right now, there’s too much hate that’s going on,” Nakase said. “Too much hate speech. I would highly suggest people lead with love. I love to lead with love.”Natalie Nakase’s comment on the anti-trans protest outside the arena (which ended up having only 10 or so people):“For me, in the world and in sports right now, it’s too much hate that’s going on, too much hate speech. I would highly suggest people continue to lead with love… https://t.co/IMvhcWIzJD— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) August 20, 2026Reeve and Nakase are far from the first head coaches in the league to push back against the exclusionary rhetoric that is being pushed lately by people with little to no interest in women’s basketball. Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White has also promoted inclusion over exclusion.“I don’t ever believe that exclusion is an answer,” White said earlier this summer. “I just don’t. I do think, you know, when we think about various levels of sport, various governing bodies of sport and things that go into that, like I said, I’m not— I’m not educated enough at the different levels. I know growing up I played with the boys all the time. There weren’t girl sports.”The post ‘Tr