The NBA 2K21’s social space, known as The City, will not support custom female characters or WNBA content.
The WNBA teams were included in last year’s edition of NBA 2K, where fans could play with some of their favorite WNBA players — but it seems that was just a one-off.
Next week, the NBA 2K21 will be released for next-gen consoles, according to Screenrant.
In 2020, the league was at the forefront of the fight against social injustice. During July’s WNBA tip-off, the league dedicated the season to Breonna Taylor, an unarmed 26-year-old Black woman killed by Louisville police in her home in March.
The New York Liberty and Seattle Storm held a 26-second silence to honor Taylor ahead of the season’s first game at the IMG Academy in Florida. Both teams also players had Taylor’s name on the back of their jerseys.
The following month, players decided to postpone all three games following the shooting of Jacob Blake over the weekend.
Officer Rusten Sheskey was caught on video firing seven times into Blake’s back at near point-blank range as he gripped his shirt. The shooting sparked riots across Wisconsin, with the governor ordering a state of emergency and calling in the state’s national guard to control the uproar.
The WNBA’s Washington Mystics team took to the court wearing white T-shirts printed with seven bullet holes in his honor.
Atkins told CNN that the T-shirts might have been “a little vulgar to some people,” but that she and her teammates had been determined “to give a very visual image” of what had happened to Blake.
“It’s tough because people are constantly telling us you have no right to speak. It’s like, what? I have no right to speak because I play a game? How does that even make sense?” Atkins continued. “I’m a human first. I’m going to speak out on the things that I feel are wrong in this world. There might be some sacrifices as far as money, as far as fans, as far as sponsorships and different things.
As the WNBA continue to fight for Black Lives, it seems the NBA a lot more work to do when it comes to social equality in-house.
