While the NBA kicked off its 2023-24 NBA season last night, the WNBA celebrated its back-to-back champions the Las Vegas Aces at the team’s hometown court, T-Mobile Arena.
As seen in the photos below, the Las Vegas Aces celebration drew a huge crowd and featured a special performance by rapper 2 Chainz.
🎆 BACK TO BACK 🎆
— T-Mobile Arena (@TMobileArena) October 24, 2023
Your @LVAces celebrate back-to-back @WNBA championships! Who did we see last night for the celebration? We love to see a lively plaza 🎉
📸 @powersimagery pic.twitter.com/DzpUYGbhuO
But there’s one basketball star who isn’t happy with T-Mobile Arena — NBA legend Dominique Wilkins, one of the league’s greatest of all-time. (Wilkins also owns one of sports’ greatest nicknames: The Human Highlight Film.)
With the photos below, the nine-time NBA All-Star tagged T-Mobile Arena and complained: “Hey, what happened to these amazing sensory pods we gave ya’ll? Why are u making it look like this without any of our branding? When we donated it to ya’ll to use for those with invisible disabilities? Why you trying to sell this external space for ad revenue when we donated it to you?”
Wilkins works with the non-profit organization KultureCity, which provided that sensory pod for guests with sensory needs including autism, dementia, and PTSD.
Wilkins says the name of the foundation should be visible on the outside, but that T-Mobile “scrubbed off our nonprofit name and the design.”
Retweet this pls! Hey @TMobileArena what happened to these amazing sensory pods we gave ya’ll?
— Dominique Wilkins 🏀 (@DWilkins21) October 25, 2023
Why are u making it look like this without any of our branding?
When we donated it to ya’ll to use for those with invisible disabilities? Why you trying to sell this external space for… pic.twitter.com/S0Z43ujqbl
Below is a video of how the pod looks upon delivery as seen at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
This is what it’s suppose to look like. This is one we donated to @cryptocomarena pic.twitter.com/xodN5vhHmF
— Dominique Wilkins 🏀 (@DWilkins21) October 25, 2023
When one fan asked Wilkins, “Why would they do that?” he replied: “Because they don’t know how strong the disability community is.” Fellow retired NBA player Rex Chapman replied with two broken heart emojis.
