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Sports of The Times: Any Publicity Is Good? Isiah Thomas and W.N.B.A. to Find Out

The Liberty will kick off a new W.N.B.A. season with their annual media day on Thursday. This year’s event will probably be the best-attended one in franchise history. The reason? Isiah Thomas, the team’s new president, will be on hand alongside the players to face reporters.

“Everyone will have their questions for me,” Thomas, who has kept a low profile since his hiring on May 5, said in a telephone interview this week. “I hope that they also look at our players.”

But there is no denying that Thomas will still be the story. Regardless of what he says on Thursday and regardless of how well the Liberty do this season, his appointment as the president of a women’s sports team — eight years after a court found he had sexually harassed a female executive when he was the Knicks’ general manager — will be viewed as disrespectful by those who care about women’s rights.