WNBA players were caught throwing punches outside of a club in yet another controversy surrounding the Atlanta Dream

• The WNBA's Atlanta Dream have been embroiled in various controversies throughout the season.
• The latest scandal involves some of the franchise's players involved in a fight in public.
• A video of the bizarre scene has raised lots of questions.

The Atlanta Dream are embroiled in controversy - again.

The wayward WNBA franchise has endured just as much turmoil outside of the gym as it has on the court this year, which is saying something considering the team finished the season in 11th place with an 8-24 record. And even though their 2021 campaign has come to a close, Atlanta has still managed to take over WNBA Twitter with their off-court antics.

A video surfaced on Sunday of three current and former Dream players - Courtney Williams, Crystal Bradford, and Kalani Brown - fist-fighting with a group of women while standing outside of a "Tenders & Bites" food truck. Williams - Atlanta's lone All-Star this season - was clearly central to the brawl and threw many punches in the nearly two-minute clip.

Bradford, who played 24 games with the Dream in 2021, also became entangled in the physical clash. But Brown, the 6-foot-7 center Atlanta waived just days before the fight, attempted to break up the skirmish throughout the video.

"The behavior in the video is unacceptable and does not align with our values as an organization," the Dream said in a statement to Insider. "We are taking this matter very seriously and working with the league to gather more information and determine next steps."

A source close to the franchise tells Insider that the altercation began when someone commented on Williams' girlfriend. The outspoken 5-foot-8 guard then took matters into her own hands - though it remains unclear which party took the first swing - and her teammates came in as backup.

The fight allegedly took place outside of a dayclub during the early days of the season, and team leadership was already aware of the situation before the video surfaced. Not only was the melee a threat to the players' physical well-being and thus to the potential success of the franchise, but their presence at a dayclub breached the league's COVID-19 protocols.

The source told Insider that the team handled the situation internally, though the nature of that resolution has not yet been made public. Williams started in each of the Dream's 32 games on the season, so it does not appear that the players faced repercussions that bled into gameday.

The brawl reflects larger issues within the franchise, which went through the entire 2021 season without a permanent head coach or general manager. Interim leadership indefinitely suspended promising young star Chennedy Carter in early July for "conduct detrimental to the team" following a locker room altercation between the second-year point guard and Williams. Carter did not play another game in 2021.

Fans voiced outrage that Carter was sidelined following the July 4th conflict while Williams and Bradford continued to suit up for the team without issue. Even Carter herself appeared to weigh in on Twitter after the fight video surfaced, writing that she's hopeful she'll wind up "somewhere with folks with class, somewhere with people who embrace your talent, somewhere that your loved, somewhere you can actually win …."