WNBA deeply disappointed after womens sports excluded from push against harassing bettors

Women’s professional sports leagues were conspicuously absent from a joint letter issued Tuesday by the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS and their respective players unions, which called for tougher measures to combat betting-related harassment of athletes, coaches and families.Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson took issue with the WNBA’s exclusion, noting the issue extends beyond men’s sports.“It is deeply disappointing that, given the very public and troubling incidents of betting-related harassment experienced by our members over the past several seasons, the NBA determined that WNBA players did not warrant inclusion in a joint position statement intended to address this very issue,” Jackson said in a statement provided to The Post.The NFL spearheaded the effort to bring sports leagues together to address this issue.The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS didn’t immediately return The Post’s request for comment.The omission of other North American women’s professional sports leagues, including the WNBA, NWSL and PWHL, underscored the unequal attention still paid to protecting athletes, particularly women, across sports.The National Women’s Soccer League Players’ Association learned of the call to action by the men’s professional sports league and unions through media inquiries after news of the memo broke.“The NWSLPA supports efforts to protect professional athletes in both men’s and women’s sports from harassment and violent threats of all kinds for all reasons, including those of the kind driven by sports betting,” NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke said in a statement.The WNBA, in particular, has dealt with numerous issues of online harassment directed at players, some of which have been fueled by unhappy gamblers.In July, Lynx forward Courtney Williams clapped back at someone who sent a profanity-laced direct message on Instagram to her after they didn’t hit on a parlay they m...