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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;NEW YORK (AP) --&amp;nbsp;WNBA&amp;nbsp;President Lisa Borders applauds the league\u2019s players for taking a stance on social issues. She just wishes the activism was kept off the court.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The New York, Phoenix and Indiana teams and players were fined this week for wearing black&amp;nbsp;warmup&amp;nbsp;shirts that addressed the recent shooting by and against police.&amp;nbsp;WNBA&amp;nbsp;rules state that uniforms may not be altered in any way.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Borders spent the past two weeks talking with the union and its executive council, trying to come up with ways that both the league and its players could constructively address the Black Lives Matters movement. Nothing concrete was decided.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe were making every effort to engage our players,\u201D she told The Associated Press by phone Friday night. \u201CWe made an effort to support them and we were trying to get them to come to the table to have a conversation. The players have an open invitation with the league.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Minneapolis cops walk out of Lynx game over players\u2019 comments, shirts&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201COur players are important to us. We believe in them. We want them to be the people they are and we\u2019re proud of them. We want to make sure they play well on the court and they are happy off the court.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Right now, the players aren\u2019t happy.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On social media and in&amp;nbsp;postgame&amp;nbsp;interviews, players are showing their solidarity after the league fined the Liberty, Mercury and Fever players $500 each this week for wearing plain black&amp;nbsp;warmup&amp;nbsp;shirts that violated the league's uniform policy. The normal fine for a uniform violation is $200. Each team also was fined $5,000.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Rev. Al&amp;nbsp;Sharpton&amp;nbsp;said Saturday his organization, the National Action Network, will pay the $500 fines. He called the penalty \u201Cunacceptable.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Washington Mystics players had shirts saying \u201CBlack Lives Matters\u201D in the locker room after their game Friday night. Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx players tweeted out pictures of their teams wearing black shirts featuring a Martin Luther King&amp;nbsp;Jr. quote before their game. They didn\u2019t wear those shirts on the court to avoid getting fined.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Minneapolis mayor criticizes police union head over Lynx comments&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe\u2019re sick and tired of waking up every morning and seeing something like this (shootings) happen,\u201D Mystics player Ivory&amp;nbsp;Latta&amp;nbsp;said after her team played its final game before the Olympic break. \u201CWe need change and we have a platform to speak. Don\u2019t tell us we have a platform and then you penalize us for our platform for speaking and showing our actions. That's not right.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Borders, on the job for four months, disagreed with the notion that the league was suppressing its players' voices.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;''We want the players to know that we have supported them in the past, support them today and will continue to support them in the future,'' she said. ''We're not trying to stop them from expressing themselves.''\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The league just doesn\u2019t want them to do it on the court if it violates the&amp;nbsp;WNBA&amp;nbsp;uniform rules. The shirts that the players were fined for wearing were the Adidas brand - the official outfitter of the league.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThe Adidas black shirts are not regulation,\u201D Borders said. \u201CThey are sponsor appropriate, but the Adidas plain black shirt would not be a regulation-issued shirt.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Carmelo&amp;nbsp;Anthony organizing forum to discuss police shootings&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The union felt it was unnecessary for the league to issue a memo this week reminding the players of the uniform policy. Because of that memo, the players and union weren\u2019t surprised by the fine. They were just disappointed.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThis isn\u2019t about a shirt, but that was the starting point,\u201D Terri Jackson, the new operations director of the&amp;nbsp;WNBA&amp;nbsp;Players Association, told the AP. \u201CThe players want to blog about (Black Lives Matter), tweet about it, do videos. They want to raise visibility and keep the conversation going. They don\u2019t want this to die out.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jackson said the union's legal team is looking into what it can do about the fines, which she called excessive. She said the union proposed letting the players have a limited time to express their opinions on the court.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe talked about doing it pregame at the 10-minute mark or the 15-minute mark and they\u2019d go back and put on their regulation&amp;nbsp;warmup. Wear the regulation&amp;nbsp;warmups&amp;nbsp;for the national anthem and life goes on. That was declined by the league.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While the league begins its&amp;nbsp;monthlong&amp;nbsp;break Saturday, its top players will be playing in Rio at the Olympics. U.S. coach&amp;nbsp;Geno&amp;nbsp;Auriemma&amp;nbsp;said he was proud of their social activism.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI respect Tina (Charles) and the players in the&amp;nbsp;WNBA&amp;nbsp;for their concern and their voices and the passion that they have and for their beliefs. I really do,\u201D he said, citing the former&amp;nbsp;UConn&amp;nbsp;player and Liberty star for wearing her&amp;nbsp;warmup&amp;nbsp;shirt inside-out before Thursday\u2019s game. \u201CI\u2019m really proud of some of my former players and the way they\u2019ve stepped forward and spoken their conscience and express their feelings.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The league was still undecided on whether Charles would be fined.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Auriemma&amp;nbsp;said if players take actions at the Olympics it would be a difficult balancing act.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CAs far as USA Basketball is concerned, you know, that\u2019s a very delicate subject,\u201D he said. \u201CObviously each player has an opportunity to be who they want and say what they feel, but at the same time, you are representing the United States of America, and you are part of the Olympic team. ... I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll come up, and we\u2019ll have to deal with it.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He said the matter would largely fall to U.S. Olympic and basketball authorities.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both the league and the union hope for constructive conversations during the break. Borders said she\u2019ll be in Rio for two weeks and will participate in the monthly conference call between the two groups on Aug. 1. She missed the call on July 11 when the shirts initially were discussed.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI love this league and its players. I\u2019d never do anything to harm the league, franchises or players,\u201D Borders said. \u201CI want them to understand we\u2019re here to support them. We\u2019ve hit a bump in a road. This too shall pass.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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