INDIANAPOLIS — The officiating comments made by Cheryl Reeve on Friday night weren’t the first, nor were they unexpected. They were simply the most dramatic of the bunch.
This has been brewing in front of everyone’s eyes — the WNBA front office included — over not only entire games, but seasons. The actions and words of the Minnesota Lynx president of basketball operations and head coach were merely the whistle of a percolator blowing its top.
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“A lot of coaches’ frustration comes from the overall buildup,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said ahead of Game 4 in Indianapolis on Sunday. “I’m sure it wasn’t just that one play.”
There’s a prevailing silencing of sorts when it comes to coaches’ honesty and transparency on officiating. They are often fined for their remarks to the media, so much so that almost daily throughout the Aces-Fever semifinal series, a coach has smilingly quipped to a reporter, “Are you trying to get me fined?” (Reeve and two of her assistant coaches were not only fined, but Reeve was suspended for the Lynx’s Game 4 loss).
Cheryl Reeve was ejected from the Minnesota Lynx’s Game 3 loss and suspended for Game 4 after her postgame comments criticizing the officiating. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Christian Petersen via Getty Images)
Hammon sat at the dais on Sunday morning and jovially asked who it would be. After the game, she remained metered but clear in her feelings about the free-throw discrepancy of a 90-83 Game 4 loss that forced a winner-take-all in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
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The monetary hit hasn’t ceased the trickle of remarks. Three nights prior to Reeve’s outburst, Hammon claimed the “level of physicality would not fly in the NBA. There would be fights.” Three months ago, when a dust-up erupted between the Fever and Sun, head coach Stephanie White called it a direct result of allowing increased physicality and officials who are unable to get a game under control.
“A lot of the same kind of conversations are happening,” White said on Sunday ahead of Game 4. “It’s happening from every team, from every franchise, from every coach, from every player, and I think at some point there has to be some accountability.”
As for Reeve, well, she’s the repeat offender unleashing on the league’s most visible stage. She and former New York Liberty leader Sandy Brondello traded complaints about officiating in a 2024 WNBA Finals series that went the distance. Reeve had the last word after a Game 5 overtime loss, delivering the notorious “this s*** was stolen from us” line almost immediately upon entering her post-game presser.
She didn’t say it this time, but this one might have been, too.
Fever head coach Stephanie White has been critical of the league’s officiating throughout the 2025 season. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)
“I’m sure she kind of snapped because she saw Phee (Napheesa Collier) down, which I would go off too if I saw my best player go down like that,” Hammon said.
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In every sport at every level, referees are often scapegoats. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert made sure to note that when asked about the issue in her All-Star address in Indianapolis, while skirting around the question of improving what has become more than an excuse.
The league “hear[s] the concerns,” they “take that input” and “we’re on it,” she said in July.
That’s not, “this is what we plan to do.” The WNBA’s referee structure takes the brunt of the blame, and moving forward with the new TV deal cash, there should be monetary resources to correct it. Officials are part-time, and the best are hired into the NBA, where they have consistent work and a salary. There is no public “last two-minute” report for accountability, nor is there a centralized review center. Coaches around the league have complained of wasting challenges on obvious calls, including out of bounds, that could be corrected with a second ref paying attention.
“I think to reiterate the fact our players in this league deserve growth in that area as well is important,” White said.
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She already went long on the issue after that June incident against the Sun, when a lack of proper foul calls led to Sophie Cunningham tackling Jacy Sheldon in the final minutes. Days later, White also agreed days that the increased physicality could have contributed to Caitlin Clark’s soft tissue injuries this year.
As for what Reeve said, there is alignment.
“She made a lot of valid points,” White said.
Hammon is always more direct.
“I mean, from what I heard, [Reeve] did not tell a lie,” Hammon said. “She said the truth.”
After the winningest head coach in league history theatrically hit her limit for a second consecutive season on the league’s largest stage, there’s no better time than now to take steps toward cleaning up this mess.
