21 October 2019

Basketball star who played entire season while pregnant hits out at sporting body's lack of support

Basketball's Skylar Diggins-Smith is the latest athlete to hit out at the lack of support from her sport following pregnancy.

The 29-year-old has faced criticism after not playing this season due to complications following the birth, despite having played throughout the 2018 season while pregnant. 

She took to Twitter to blast the Women's National Basketball Association saying: "Having no support from your own organisation is unfortunate.

"Not knowing I took two FULL months away from everything because of postpartum depression. With limited resources to help me be successful mentally/physically."

But she has had support from her team, Dallas Wings, whose general manager Greg Bibb said: "We're going to support her and her timeline and when she says she's ready to go, we're going to welcome her back.

"Until she's ready to go, she needs to focus on getting herself healthy and getting her family situated and feeling good about all of that."

In WNBA contracts there is a clause that says players will receive half of their salary while on maternity leave and have their medical bills covered by insurance.

Diggins-Smith averaged 17.9 points and 6.2 assists in the season she played while pregnant.

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