Lynx celebrate WNBA championship with D.C. students

Cheryl Reeve believes her Minnesota Lynx epitomize what a champion should be. They aren’t just tremendous basketball players, they’re leaders in their communities, whether in Minnesota or the nation’s capital. And that is more important to Reeve and her players than being fêted on the South Lawn of the White House.

The Lynx did not receive an invite to the White House after winning the 2017 WNBA championship. The team, which plays the Washington Mystics on Thursday, came to D.C. a day early to work with Samaritan’s Feet Shoes of Hope to distribute shoes to children from low-income families as part of their championship celebration.

The team arrived Tuesday and distributed shoes and socks from Nike, Jordan Brand and DTLR on Wednesday at Payne Elementary, a school where 30 percent of the students are homeless. Members of the team also hit the blacktops to go over basketball drills with the kids and then returned inside to be celebrated in the school’s auditorium. The Lynx ended the event with a photo op with the 2017 WNBA Finals trophy.

“I want to say thank you to these players for being such amazing athletes, incredible role models and choosing to be here today to show how champions act,” Reeve said as the team stood on the stage to be recognized.

Asked how this post-Finals celebration stacked up with her other experiences, four-time WNBA champion Maya Moore spoke fondly of being invited to the White House under the Barack Obama administration after winning titles in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

But she said spending the afternoon playing basketball and giving out new Jordans to more than 300 elementary school students made this celebration stand out.

“I’m so ridiculously blessed to have so many memories at the White House, so many great ones,” Moore said Wednesday while standing on the blacktop. “This will probably be more unique. We made some great memories with these kids. … We’ll definitely remember this.”

Asked about President Donald Trump’s decision to not invite the Lynx to the White House or whether they would have gone if invited, most of the players said they wanted to focus on the kids and the positivity of Wednesday’s community service.

Trump disinvited the 2018 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the White House this week and rescinded an invitation to the 2017 NBA champion Golden State Warriors last fall. Three leagues with predominantly black workforces — NBA, NFL and WNBA — have been spurned while leagues with majority-white workforces, the NHL and MLB, have been celebrated at the White House.

“Obviously, it does [bother me that the president is targeting black athletes],” Lynx guard Seimone Augustus said. “The NBA, the NFL, they’ve all been very vocal. The players — LeBron [James], Steph [Curry] and all of them — have been doing their job as far as letting people know their stance on the situation. And we’re going to continue to do our part. We’ve been doing this since last year with the anthem, but today just was a day where we felt like it was more important for us as a team, as a unit, to do something way more special than whatever is going on with the chaos of the White House and the invites and all that stuff.”

In July 2016, the Lynx stepped into the social activism spotlight when they came out with black-and-white warm-up shirts that read “Change starts with us. Justice & accountability.” On the backs of the shirts were the phrase “Black Lives Matter”; the names Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men killed by police; and the Dallas Police Department emblem (five officers were shot to death during a protest after Sterling and Castile were killed).

"This is a human issue & we need to speak up for change, together." -Maya pic.twitter.com/tyfl65Ag81

— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) July 9, 2016

The Lynx players also linked arms during the national anthem, while the Los Angeles Sparks went to the locker room before Game 1 of the 2017 WNBA Finals.

Like Vikings, Lynx link arms for National Anthem at the Barn. Sparks left arena, returned after anthem. Some boos. pic.twitter.com/KilDJwqBVa

— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) September 24, 2017

Asked about the disparity in teams visiting the White House, Reeve said:

“I think it’s a confusing message. I don’t really want to take a deep dive into the diversity piece. I think it’s plain for people to see. And I think for us, we say we’re not going to let anyone steal our joy. At the end of the day, we don’t need the White House to celebrate our championship. This was an incredibly meaningful day and a way to commemorate it and showing how champions act, and what we’re about and what our league is about.”