Aerial Powers calls out Heat’s Andre Iguodala on Twitter

No. 23 has a name, and she’s making sure everyone knows that it’s Aerial Powers.

Aerial Powers helped the Washington Mystics to a WNBA Championship last season, and she’s been on fire since the league returned last weekend. She currently averaging 21.5. points per game and shot 71.4% from the field in both games the Mystics have played so far. Despite her incredible performances, the Miami Heat‘s Andre Iguodala couldn’t be bothered to learn her name when he tweeted about her during yesterday’s game.

Iguodala referred to Powers simply as “#23”, her jersey number, in his Tweet, and Powers did not hesitate to call him out. It may seem like a small thing, but imagine if someone referred to Iguodala as “#28 on the Heat”. Plus, even if Iguodala didn’t want to spend the time looking up Powers’ name, the announcers of the game were saying it regularly throughout the broadcast.

Powers also brought up homophobic remarks that Iguodala allegedly made back in 2016 about the WNBA. Powers is openly gay, and the league is known as a safe space for LGBTQ+ people. Iguodala’s failure to acknowledge one of the W’s biggest stars by name was just salt in the wound from a guy who has a history of disrespecting the league.

What’s the big deal?

Plenty of people on social media are criticizing Powers for her responses to Iguodala, but they don’t understand the bigotry that WNBA players constantly deal with. By failing to even learn Powers’ name, he minimized her prominence as a professional athlete and failed to give her the legitimate recognition she deserved.

Calling Powers by just her number would be a micro-aggression from anyone, but it’s especially harmful from a well-known NBA player like Iguodala. He has a large following of NBA fans, so acknowledging Powers for her skills on the court would have been an amazing way to expose basketball-lovers that don’t watch the W to the type of talent the women have. Instead, he stifled that opportunity by failing to even name Powers.

Powers had every right to fight for herself and stand up for her name, because there’s no question that Iguodala’s Tweet was disrespectful. She and the WNBA deserve better, and NBA players have a responsibility to use their platforms to elevate them and treat them like the top-tier athletes they are.