WNBA refs criticized for inconsistency in how games are called

As the WNBA reaches its All-Star break, the league is facing increasing pressure to address one of the biggest issues that has emerged as a storyline the first half of the season: officiating. Players and coaches say they aren't asking for perfection, but in interviews with ESPN, several voiced frustration and said they want greater consistency in how games are refereed and the level of physicality allowed.

From Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon to first-year Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, from young stars such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese to veteran players such as Kelsey Plum and Natasha Cloud, the issue has flared several times on the court during games and prompted questions and comments during postgame news conferences.

It happened again Tuesday night. During the Indiana Fever's game at the Connecticut Sun, Clark took an inbounds pass when referee Michael Price whistled play to stop to review an out-of-bounds call. After a brief discussion with Price, Clark appeared upset and was restrained by Fever assistant coach Briann January. Clark later confronted Price before play resumed.

The moment was just one of many this season when tensions over officiating have boiled over. As the league grows in popularity and the stakes get higher, so does scrutiny of the people in stripes, and the pressure players feel when those calls don't go their way.

Monty McCutchen, head of WNBA officiating, said it's his department's job to hold referees accountable based on clear standards, not outside pressure.

"We own the stuff that we need to own," he said. "We're really good about that and trying to get better. It's an important piece of our culture to drive toward better performance, but there's always going to be noise about officiating that is inaccurate. We have to stay the course to what good training and good performance look like."

In response to ESPN's questions about officiating, many WNBA players and coaches prefaced their answers by saying they didn't want to get fined.

Cloud, who was drafted by the Washington Mystics in 2015 and is now with the New York Liberty, pointed to a strained relationship between players and referees.

"I work my f---ing ass off all offseason for these four and a half months to try to win a championship," Cloud told ESPN. "And if I feel like [refs are] having too much f---ing impact on the game, it shouldn't be. ... This is collaborative to make this thing go."

Officiating is certainly an annual topic of discussion and debate in nearly every sport in nearly every season, and although officiating has been a major storyline heading into the WNBA All-Star break, statistics don't point to a dramatic shift from previous seasons in how games are called. According to ESPN Research, foul calls are up slightly -- with teams averaging 18.7 fouls per game, the highest since 2017 -- while other metrics remain within historical norms. Flagrant fouls are on pace to total 52 this season, the third most in league history when adjusted for the current 44-game schedule, but still well below last year's record of 77. Technical fouls are projected at 191, which would rank sixth most all time on an adjusted basis.

Perhaps at play is that there are more eyes on the games than ever. This season, the league is on pace to set a record for the highest average attendance in WNBA history, with about 10,990 fans per game, according to Across the Timeline. That's up from 9,807 last season and 6,615 the year before.

"It's an overnight sensation that's been 50-plus years in the making," said Lynn Ridinger, a professor of sport management at Old Dominion University who researches referee retention and women's sports. "Of course there's going to be more scrutiny because we have more people paying attention."

TENSIONS AROUND OFFICIATING have escalated during the first half of the season, with some athletes using postgame interviews to voice their frustration.

"[It] has to be fixed," Reese told reporters after the Chicago Sky's 80-75 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on July 6, when the Sky attempted eight free throws to the Lynx's 17. (The Sky were called for 16 personal fouls; the Lynx were whistled for 17.)

"I don't give a damn if I get fined because that s--- is cheap," Reese said after the game, "and I'm tired of this s---."

Her comments followed criticism earlier in the season from Las Vegas guard Plum, who said in June, "I drive more than anyone in the league, so to shoot six free throws is f---ing absurd."

While the conversation around officiating has been loud this season, several players told ESPN that the officiating seems no different than it has been in previous years. What has changed, they said, is the spotlight, with the league's rising popularity and faster, more physical style of play.

Mystics center Stefanie Dolson, now in her 11th year with the league, said referees are letting players play through more contact.

"I know some girls want more calls, but I think a lot of them will learn, when the refs call too much, it's not fun," Dolson said. "It's not always easy to play through a lot of fouls, but I actually think they're letting us play pretty physically this season, and I'm personally enjoying that."

Other players agreed that physicality is up, but their main ask to officials is to keep it consistent.

"People make mistakes, but if we keep making the same mistakes, we're forced to feel as if the mistakes that are happening are choices we make," Mystics guard Brittney Sykes told ESPN. "For me, I just would want to have consistency on both sides of the ball."

Cloud said she holds officials to the same standards she sets for herself. While she understands errors happen on both ends, what frustrates her is when she feels dismissed when trying to communicate officiating errors to referees.

She was suspended last year after seven technicals, three of which she argued should have been rescinded.

"I just think that the overall is, we have these meetings before the season where we talk to the head referees, and I truly don't feel like we're ever heard," she said. "I constantly feel like we're being made to be like babies or complainers."

Still, Cloud acknowledged some improvement this year, crediting referees for making more of an effort before games to communicate.

Aces forward NaLyssa Smith told ESPN the growing physicality and mounting frustration often feed each other. Players aren't getting the calls they want, so the physicality is getting worse, she said.

Speaking out about officiating comes at a cost, as Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White acknowledged Tuesday before addressing the increased physicality against Clark and in the league overall.

"I'm not exactly sure why, but it just is what it is, and we've got to help her learn to adjust and use it against them in certain ways," White said. "We've got to find some ways to make it a little bit easier for her. But the level of physicality overall in our league has been at a different level than it's been for a long time."

WNBA officials are trained to reduce prohibited physicality during games while allowing legitimate, competitive contact.

"We're dealing with grown, mature, athletic women who play with their bodies," said Sue Blauch, head of referee performance and development for the WNBA. "They learn to use their bodies to their advantage within this game."

The WNBA does not disclose the amounts it fines players, coaches and team staff who publicly criticize referees. Cloud said the accountability should go both ways.

"I also think that there needs to be [a] f---ing fine placed on referees for missed calls, right?" Cloud said. "If I can get a technical in the game for my emotions, I think the referees should be able to be reprimanded for their mistakes too. ... If my fines are going to be public knowledge, I think their fines should be f---ing public knowledge."

The league fines or suspends referees for misapplication of rules, but not misjudgment calls.

"We have a strong belief that every WNBA official should apply a rule equitably and fairly every single time," McCutchen said. "... We do not fine for judgment calls any more than players get fined for missing free throws, layups or jump shots."

Accountability for referees includes grading of decisions by an independent review team. Those who don't officiate consistently aren't considered for extra income opportunities through playoff or other assignments. The league also has a process in which referees could go on probation or get demoted for misapplication.

FRUSTRATION WITH OFFICIATING hasn't been limited to players. Coaches also have spoken out. After a Las Vegas Aces' mid-July loss to the Mystics, Hammon said, "Tell me how much my fine is," as she exited the news conference.

Hammon had spent the final minutes of the game, and the minutes after, frustrated with what she called "awful" officiating. She said she didn't have enough challenges to overturn what she saw on the court.

"Jackie [Young] got fouled at 33 seconds [left] on that layup," she said. "No call. Meanwhile, on the other end, I would have challenged seven more calls, and won them. I have no idea what that was. Awful. Our defense was probably similarly awful though."

Before tipoff, when asked about officiating so far this year, Hammon was cheekily warned by a team communications staffer to speak "without getting fined." Still, she offered critique.

"The physicality is out of control. I think the freedom of movement is a joke," she said. "There is no freedom of movement. ... It's not basketball; it's rugby."

Hammon and Mystics coach Sydney Johnson said that no matter how officials call the game, their coaching approach remains the same.

"I really want our players to focus on the challenge of five other players on the court and try to just rise above whatever calls come their way," Johnson said. "I'm really intent on us trying to just attack the other team and hold together, no matter what the adversity is."

Valkyries coach Nakase -- a former assistant coach for the Aces and the Los Angeles Clippers -- is halfway through her first season as a WNBA head coach and already calling for more consistency in how the games are being officiated.

After the Phoenix Mercury beat the Valkyries on Monday night, Nakase said it was a disservice that the Mercury won the game off a free throw in the last second. The foul was called on Golden State's Cecilia Zandalasini with two seconds left, after she made contact with Alyssa Thomas near the basket.

"I saw absolutely no foul," Nakase said. "The physicality of the game for Phoenix was 10 times more versus our physicality. I saw absolutely no foul. ... I believe you have to win off of great shots."

On consistency, the league said it's important that referees call similar plays similarly. But McCutchen said "consistency is often misused in a desire for everything to be equitable."

"If teams are playing differently," he said, "consistency does not mean equity."

NO MATTER WHAT'S fueling the scrutiny around officiating, fans say they're paying attention, too. Karlton Genwright, a fan of Reese and the Mystics who resides in Maryland, said the calls have been "consistently bad."

"[There needs to be] accountability, whether it's the refs should have to answer to the media," he said, suggesting the league adopt something similar to the NBA's Last Two Minute Report to review calls.

"Right now, it's radio silence," he said. "Players are saying something."

McCutchen said the WNBA doesn't have a Last Two Minute Report because of a lack of resources.

"There's no philosophical reason not to do it," he said. "We want to be accountable and transparent in our work. Right now, the resources are not there."

Genwright said the officiating doesn't ruin the games for him, but he wants to see them called fairly for the integrity of the competition.