Cincinnati Bengals guard Dalton Risner and his wife, Whitney, shared devastating personal news on Friday: they lost their baby boy at 16 weeks into the pregnancy.
The announcement came just four weeks after Whitney had posted the couple’s happier update, revealing they were expecting their first child. At the time, she wrote, “Baby Risner, we can’t wait to meet you this year!”
In her emotional Instagram post, Whitney opened up about the grief the family is carrying and thanked people for their support. She also offered comfort to other families who have gone through the same kind of loss.
“I wish I was writing any other post than this right now,” Whitney wrote. “I never imagined our journey to starting a family would begin like this.”
She said the experience has brought a kind of pain she never expected to face.
“This loss has introduced me to a depth of pain and heartbreak that I never knew existed,” she wrote. “It feels like I’ve lost so much… our precious baby boy, pieces of myself, and the future I had planned out for the past 4 months.”
Whitney also leaned on her faith as she processed the tragedy.
“I don’t know exactly what the future holds, and that uncertainty is incredibly hard. But even in the midst of heartbreak and grief, I know God is still good,” she wrote.
She made clear how much Dalton has meant to her through all of it.
“More than ever, I’ve realized how important it is who you marry and choose to walk through life with,” she said. “I truly can’t imagine getting through this without my rock and best friend, @dalton_risner66.”
Whitney, a former college basketball player who founded the jewelry company WAAWEES and has more than one million TikTok followers, also said this was the couple’s “second loss in just a couple of months.”
She closed by thanking friends, family, and supporters for their prayers and kindness, while also reaching out to others dealing with similar heartbreak.
“If you’re walking this same painful road, I want you to know that you are not alone,” she wrote.
Risner joined the Bengals in 2025 after stints with the Denver Broncos and the Minnesota Vikings. Since entering the NFL as a second-round draft pick in 2019, he has started 93 regular season and postseason games.
In Other News...
Timberwolves May Be Running Out Of Time With This Core
The Timberwolves have built something worth protecting around Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels, a young core all under contract through 2029. On paper, that should give Minnesota a long runway, but the NBAs second tax apron has a way of turning promising team-building into a math problem, especially once a club starts thinking like a contender instead of a project.
For Minnesota, the tension is no longer about whether the talent is there. It is about how long the front office can keep the group intact while still leaving enough flexibility to chase a title, with Edwards likely waiting until next summer for his next major payday and Balls future cost already pointing upward. The Timberwolves have time, but not unlimited time, and the pressure to make the right calls only gets heavier as the bills come due. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Solved One Problem And Created A Bigger One
The Timberwolves addressed one of their most obvious needs by bringing in LaMelo Ball and Josh Green, a move that gives the roster a very different look at point guard after sending out Naz Reid, Julius Randle and draft capital. It is the kind of swing that can change the way Minnesota plays, and it also reflects how aggressively Tim Connelly has been willing to reshape the roster around the edges and in the middle.
The problem is that solving one spot has left another one exposed, with frontcourt depth and financial flexibility both suddenly in short supply. Connelly has already acknowledged the need for creativity at power forward, and the Wolves are still sorting through ways to get the roster where it needs to be before the season settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Wolves Fans Are Split On What Ayo Dosunmu Will Be Worth
Ayo Dosunmus place in Minnesota has become one of those roster debates that says as much about team-building as it does about the player himself. Once the Timberwolves added LaMelo Ball, Dosunmus value shifted from a more central piece to a complementary one, and now he is being measured less by whether he can carry possessions and more by how cleanly he fits alongside Ball and Anthony Edwards.
That is where the split starts. Some fans see a well-rounded guard whose game resembles the kind of connective talent championship teams lean on, while others look at the price tag and wonder whether Minnesota is paying for an ideal role player at a premium rate. He is projected to sit as the 104th highest-paid player in the league, which only adds to the argument that the Wolves may have found a bargain if the fit works the way they believe it can. [Read more 🡒]