Both teams left the floor before Saturday night’s deciding game at Chase Center, completing a series-long pattern that continued despite criticism and repeated questions about why their pregame routines take them off the court during the performance.Saturday’s anthem was performed by San Francisco’s Glide Ensemble.The choir’s website describes its music as "steeped in protest and visions of a more just and loving world" and says it spreads a message of "diversity, acceptance and love."Not even a radically left-wing church choir could get the players to stand on the court for two minutes during the anthem.WNBA PLAYERS, COACHES REFUSE TO EXPLAIN NATIONAL ANTHEM ABSENCES AMID MOUNTING CRITICISMGlide Ensemble performs the national anthem at center court before Game 7 of the WNBA Finals at Chase Center in San Francisco on Oct.
31, 2026.The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries remained off the court for the seventh straight Finals anthem.
(OutKick/Dan Zaksheske)The league’s first Game 7 came after Atlanta’s 80–69 victory Thursday evened the series at 3–3.Saturday’s winner will claim its franchise’s first WNBA championship.Two weeks after OutKick first asked why the teams were leaving the floor for the anthem, the WNBA, NBA and both teams’ front offices still have not answered our questions.Players and coaches have pointed to their pregame routines.The performers and venues changed.
The teams’ absence from the court did not.Alanis Morissette sang before Game 2 at Chase Center.On Thursday in Atlanta, 10-year-old Heiress Harris, the daughter of rapper T.I., performed before Game 6.
Both teams were off the floor for those performances.When OutKick finally had an opportunity to question players and coaches directly at media availability in Atlanta on Oct.23, Golden State coach Natalie Nakase said the practice was part of pregame."We’re two years in," Nakase said.
"That’s been part of our pregame."Asked who established the routine and why, N...