Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum‘s comments after the WNBA All-Star Game were “a really bad joke,” she told former WNBA star Sue Bird on the “Bird’s Eye View” podcast released Friday.
Plum spoke with Bird about a variety of topics, including remarks she made in jest after the July 19 All-Star Game in Indianapolis about the players’ decision to wear “Pay Us What You Owe Us” warmup T-shirts as part of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the league.
Plum, who played for captain Napheesa Collier‘s winning team against Team Caitlin Clark, said in a postgame news conference, “The T-shirt, just [a] united front, was determined this morning, that we had a meeting for. And, uh, not to tattletale, but zero members of Team Clark were very present for that.”
Plum was sitting next to Team Clark member Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty during the news conference. Ionescu joked back, laughing, “That really needed to be mentioned.”
Plum responded, “I’m trying to make the situation light, OK? But I think it was just all of us getting on the same page before the game. I thought that was a powerful moment and got the point across.”
Plum’s comments became a topic on social media, as some accused her of taking a shot at Clark and the players who were on her All-Star team. Clark, who was injured, did not play in the All-Star Game. Clark and Collier, who was the MVP of the game, were captains based on fan voting.
Asked by Bird about the remarks, Plum said she was just trying to be lighthearted in the moment.
“You were trying to just make a joke,” Bird said. “And it just got twisted.”
“The questions came in, and it was like, ‘CBA, this, this, this.’ It was like, ‘Hey, Team Clark, they didn’t make it to the meeting.’ I was making a joke that they were hungover, even though our team nickname was ‘hungover.’ So it was like, ‘At least we made it [to the meeting].'”
Sparks’ Kelsey Plum to ‘Bird’s Eye View’ podcast
Plum replied, “And I should have — like, hindsight’s 20/20 — because of the shirts, because of the fans … I should have known it was a way more serious moment than a typical All-Star Game. Because I went into that press conference very, like, happy-go-lucky we won, you know?
“The questions came in, and it was like, ‘CBA, this, this, this.’ It was like, ‘Hey, Team Clark, they didn’t make it to the meeting.’ I was making a joke that they were hungover, even though our team nickname was ‘hungover.’ So it was like, ‘At least we made it [to the meeting].’
“Obviously, we’re all on the same page. We all wore the shirts. Like, we’re all unified. And I think, if anything, I was just more discouraged because I felt like it took away from the moment of what we were trying to do.”
Bird addressed the fact that people sometimes take players’ comments — even when they’re intended to be sarcastic and joking — and spin their own narratives about them on social media. Plum said it is difficult to even respond to that when it happens.
“And if you do, you seem defensive,” Plum said. “So you just have to let it go.”
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