Another night in the W, another officiating controversy. And another and another.
Seriously, it seemed like whichever game you flipped to on Tuesday night, the referees were making themselves the dominant conversation on the broadcast.
The spotlight is definitely shining a bit brighter on the officials following Chennedy Carter’s hip check on Caitlin Clark that was only called a common foul in real time. While the league office later upgraded Carter’s foul to a flagrant 1, it still wasn’t the best look for the refs who actually called the game.
That helped set the stage for Tuesday night’s wildly inconsistent calls across the W.
Angel Reese ejected for waving her hand
When even your opponents feel a ref has gone too far, you know it’s a bad call. Shoutout to New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu for calling out the treatment of Chicago’s Angel Reese in the moment because it’s hard to see how this constitutes two technical fouls and an ejection.
Angel Reese was just ejected with two techs in succession #WNBA pic.twitter.com/P1sSSoiunJ
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) June 5, 2024
According to the pool report, the refs assessed one tech for Reese uttering an expletive after disagreeing with a call. The second came moments later after she waved off the ref who assessed it.
Reese had not received a warning prior to the first technical. https://t.co/pzTvT2zh67
— Julia Poe (@byjuliapoe) June 5, 2024
Maj Forsberg was not the official who ejected Reese, for what it’s worth, but that doesn’t make the explanation any better. Players don’t have to like any given call by the official, they just have to abide by them. It seems like that’s what Reese was doing when she got ejected. And that would’ve dominated the night’s headlines, but not long after, the ref show continued in Seattle.
Kahleah Copper’s technical foul also draws an and-1
Yeah, so this was weird. The refs called Skylar Diggins-Smith for blocking on Kahleah Copper’s drive to the rim. Then they hit Copper with a tech for making excessive contact with Diggins-Smith.
Kahleah Copper was assessed a technical for this contact on Skylar Diggins-Smith but also earned an And-1 on the play. pic.twitter.com/VFSOeVZ7Z2
— CBS Sports WNBA (@CBSSportsWNBA) June 5, 2024
Usually you see refs go with one or the other here. Not often you get both. But now we must ask again what the threshold is for a technical foul in the W. Because if drawing blood only gets a tech, but waving off an official gets you ejected, we have some questions.
But hold those thoughts because it gets worse.
Diana Taurasi’s turn to get a tech
Yeah, the refs were just handing techs out all over the place. Before we get to that, let’s take a look at Taurasi getting understandably heated after Phoenix was called for a turnover it didn’t commit.
Warning: NSFW language
"No one touched the ball! F***!" – Diana after no one touched the ball pic.twitter.com/xHyp3OTV9w
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 5, 2024
You may have seen that Taurasi later earned a tech and shouted some very unkind words at the refs. Did she get ejected like Reese? Nope. She got to stay on the bench.
Diana Taurasi was called for a tech and then a foul was called on the Mercury.
If you can read lips I think you can get an idea for her thoughts on the ref’s calls 😅 #WNBA pic.twitter.com/JZHeZmJFVt
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) June 5, 2024
We’re just asking for some consistency from the refs. Undoubtedly, officiating basketball games is a tough job that not many are running to sign up for, but we’ve got to do better than this.
As the WNBA continues to draw more eyes, these calls are only going to come under the microscope more often. The league — and its officials — need to prove they’re ready to meet the moment.
