Former NBA player Matt Barnes has shared his opinion on one of the most controversial topics in society right now. The former Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, and Golden State Warriors recently discussed the possibility of trans women playing in the WNBA.
The 2017 NBA champion explained that he has nothing against people deciding to change their gender to feel comfortable in their bodies, but also claimed that it’s a different situation when it comes to sports.
This has been a controversial topic around every major sports league in the world, and it doesn’t seem like it will stop anytime soon. Barnes gave his honest opinion on this, rejecting the idea that somebody who was born a man should compete against women.
Matt Barnes Express Opinion On Trans Women Playing In The WNBA
During a recent conversation on VladTV, Barnes gave his point of view on this matter, saying that he doesn’t like that, as sports are a different thing than daily life (via Complex).
“I don’t like that,” Barnes said. “You wanna be whatever you wanna be…I’m pro-make-your-choice. Do you, do this, but sports is different, you know what I mean? Sports is a different beast.”
He mentioned two cases where two trans women beat the competition, a trans professional fighter and collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, suggesting that they had an advantage over their rivals.
“I don’t like that,” he reiterated. “If you’re born a woman, I think you should play women sports. And if you’re born a man, you should play man sports. But if you wanna be—if you wanna do whatever you wanna do with your life, I respect that. That’s not my business. But I just think the sports thing is just a little different.”
“It would change the whole dynamic of the game. To me, I just feel like to each their own. … But when it comes to sports, I think crossing that line is a line that shouldn’t be crossed.”
This will always be a controversial topic, and whoever talks about it will be criticized by the people in favor or against it. Barnes simply expressed his opinion on this, saying that sports are different than life, and while it’s ok that people do whatever they want with their bodies and identify as they want, it’s a different thing when it comes to playing sports, especially at a high level like WNBA.
Barnes isn’t the type of person to care about criticism or getting in trouble, as he showed when he threatened to slap Robert Sarver during a game.
