WNBA denies Isiah Thomas’ potential New York Liberty ownership candidacy, temporarily
The New York Liberty – or, at least, the brains (no laughing) that run the New York Liberty at MSG – have decided that maybe the idea of Isiah Thomas, Partial WNBA Team Owner, is not such a great idea.
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Thomas, who was the key witness in a sexual harassment suit brought against MSG by former MSG marketing vice president Anucha Browne Sanders, was attempting to add the role of part-owner next to his tag as the team’s president. Thomas will continue to act as president of the squad, but his move to take partial ownership of the team, for now, has been tabled.
The WNBA released the following statement today regarding the league and New York Liberty’s agreement to suspend consideration of Isiah Thomas’ application for an ownership interest:
“After further discussion and with the season underway, the WNBA and the New York Liberty have agreed to suspend consideration of Isiah Thomas’ application for an ownership interest in the Liberty until further notice. The process will resume at a future time as determined by the Liberty.”
The WNBA does not have the power to deny James Dolan’s insistence on putting Isiah Thomas in charge of the New York Liberty. What the league’s board of governors does have, however, is the ability to vote down approval of a potential owner, no matter how small the would-be owner’s particular share might be. It is rather clear that, prior to even coming to a vote, the WNBA and MSG decided that it might be best to delay any discussion of Thomas’ possibly role as a part-owner prior to that vote.
A vote he, apparently, had no chance in winning.
Isiah Thomas has no history with the WNBA. He has never scouted women’s basketball at a professional level. He failed as coach of Florida International University, as head coach of the New York Knicks, as president of the New York Knicks, and as head coach of a severely underachieving Indiana Pacers team. He destroyed the Continental Basketball Association. He did a solid job with the Toronto Raptors before quitting in disgust following a failed ownership coup.
It’s also important to note that James Dolan’s other famous hire, New York Knick president Phil Jackson, hardly struck a blow for women’s rights while passive/aggressively signing off on the Thomas hire:
Q.Have you spoken to Isiah Thomas since he was hired to run the Liberty?
JACKSON Yeah, Isiah came in my office. I was on the phone, but I was able to shake his hand. And there have been a number of times when we’ve just bumped into each other here in the cafeteria. We talked about the playoffs, about his team. He seems to be happy doing his job, and that’s about it.
Great. So you threw him a stink-eye while not even bothering to hang up the phone to engage in conversation. Real big boy stuff all around.
Kudos to the WNBA for standing up to the menace of James Dolan’s hoped-for executive privilege. This is not a minor league. This is not a proving ground to bide time in before returning to the bigs. This league is not a toy. This league was not built to rehabilitate image.
This league was built to give a national stage for women’s athletics, the sort of basketball players that would otherwise be working overseas. It is to the NBA and MSG’s great discredit that Isiah Thomas will be allowed to run the New York Liberty as an act of slumming, but that hardly takes away from what the WNBA has accomplished since 1997.
On Monday, the WNBA got one right. We’re trying to remember the last time MSG managed as much.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
