Breanna Stewart held a sign, fans at a women’s hockey game chanted and Steve Kerr appealed to better angels as the sports world reacted Sunday to the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis over the weekend.
Stewart, a two-time WNBA MVP and Unrivaled league co-founder, held an “Abolish ICE” sign during player introductions ahead of her Unrivaled matchup between the Mist and Vinyl on Sunday, then shared why she decided to do so with reporters after the game.
Advertisement
“All day yesterday I was kind of just disgusted,” said Stewart, 31, who is currently a forward for the New York Liberty in the WNBA. “Everything that you see on Instagram and the news, we’re so fueled by hate right now, instead of love. I wanted to kind of have a simple message of ‘abolish ICE.’ Which means … having policies to uplift families and communities instead of fueling fear and violence.”
Federal agents shot three people — Renée Good, a Venezuelan man who has not been named, and Pretti — over the last three weeks as the Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in Minnesota. On Jan. 7, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Good, 37, sparking protests in Minneapolis and throughout the country.
The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti “approached” Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, the New York Times reported. Officials did not specify whether Pretti brandished the gun. Pretti can be seen with a phone in one hand in multiple bystander videos of the shooting. None of the videos appear to show him holding a firearm. After a struggle with several agents, he was shot multiple times and died.
Advertisement
Stewart wasn’t the first athlete to protest the shootings in Minnesota. Indiana Pacers star point guard Tyrese Haliburton took to Twitter on Saturday night and stated, “Alex Pretti was murdered.”
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, speaking before Sunday’s game at the Minnesota Timberwolves, said, “There should be an appeal to our better angels to look after one another and to recognize what’s happening.”
That game had previously been scheduled to be played on Saturday night, but the NBA postponed it to Sunday to “prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community.” The Timberwolves held a moment of silence for Pretti before tipoff, while Wolves broadcaster and Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson shared her thoughts about the situation in Minneapolis and sent condolences to the families of Pretti and Good.
Advertisement
“Our community is not OK right now, and the things that are happening and what we are having to deal with,” Brunson said on the FanDuel Sports North broadcast. “Watching an administration purge us of our neighbors, going into our stores, and our schools, and our hospitals, and really taking away people that make this community special … it’s unfair, and it’s not right what we see happening around us.”
Sentiments were elsewhere around the WNBA. Napheesa Collier, a WNBA star and Stewart’s fellow Unrivaled co-founder, reshared a statement on Instagram from former president Barack Obama, who described Pretti’s killing as a “heartbreaking tragedy.”
Indiana Fever forward Brianna Turner posted on X that “The minority that are still defending ICE will forever be on the wrong side of history.”
Natisha Hiedeman, Collier’s teammate on the Minnesota Lynx and a member of “The Hive” in Unrivaled, posted on Instagram that she is “heartbroken to see ICE has flipped the city upside down and resorted to violence.”
Advertisement
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jaylen Clark reshared a phone video of the incident that led to Pretti’s shooting, writing, “sick world man.”
The Timberwolves, Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Vikings all signed a public letter on Sunday that called for an “immediate de-escalation of tensions” in their home state. The letter was also signed by top executives from Target, Best Buy, General Mills and dozens of other large Minnesota companies.
Meanwhile, the NBA Players Association released a statement regarding the unrest in Minnesota, vowing that, “Now more than ever, we must defend the right to freedom of speech and stand in solidarity with the people in Minnesota protesting and risking their lives to demand justice.”
NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley offered his thoughts on “Inside the NBA” on Saturday night. After explaining how ICE’s involvement in Minnesota has already ended in violence multiple times, Barkley said, “somebody has to step up and be adults.”
Advertisement
Former Minnesota forward Kyle Anderson, who currently plays for the Utah Jazz, reposted an illustration of Pretti with the words “Justice for Alex Pretti” on it.
Some sports fans voiced their thoughts as well. Prior to a Minnesota Frost game in the Professional Women’s Hockey League on Sunday in St. Paul, fans chanted “ICE OUT” just before the puck drop. They also had a moment of silence for Pretti. The NHL’s Minnesota Wild did not hold one before its game against the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.
In baseball, Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider posted to his Instagram story an illustration of Colonial British soldiers shooting citizens in Boston, before also reposting the Obama statement.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Vikings, Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Minnesota Frost, NBA, WNBA, Culture, Women’s Hockey
2026 The Athletic Media Company
