The WNBA, midway through its season, has already seen a lot of controversy this year. From fans throwing sex toys at players on the court during live games to silent equal pay protests in the All-Star game.
Even during the games themselves, from a pure basketball perspective, players and fans have also heavily criticized the WNBA referees this season. Among the players who have been vocal about their criticism of officials is Sophie Cunningham, the Indiana Fever star.
In her latest podcast episode, Cunningham revealed that she received a $1500 fine from the WNBA for criticizing officials in the first episode of her new podcast.
"Well, the WNBA fined me for talking about the refs... Dude, they fined me $1500, I was like, this is just the beginning, you're kidding."
"What happens is, they email our GM, she pulls me aside and goes 'Come here, Soph, I have to talk to you.' And this was in front of everybody. So I said, 'What did I do now?' and she just smiles and goes, 'Hey, they're going to fine you again.'"
"I was like, 'I even told them, I even credited them that their job was hard, I did say that, and I said I would not be good at it. Like, look at the whole picture, what are we doing? Ughh!"
Earlier this season, Cunningham was also fined $500 for the same reason, but since she did not stop publicly criticizing referees, they doubled down on the fines. She referred to the officials as "stupid," "slow," and "useless" in a TikTok trend that eventually cost her that money.
She then went on her podcast and expressed her true feelings about the referees.
“If I were a ref, I know I would mess up all the time. Like, I’m not saying that your job is easy, but when it is a simple call right in front of your face multiple times, what are you doing? What are you doing?"
"They’re just so inconsistent, like that’s one thing. If you’re on the other team and you’re going to be fouling the s*** out of me, cool. But let me do it to you."
"I think players across the league, and new fans across the country, are like, 'What is going on with the refs? And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ And you fining me $500 is not going to do s***."
Fans online have resonated with the same sentiment as Cunningham throughout the season. Several posts have gone viral where multiple instances of controversial decision-making have been pointed out, especially in the context of Cunningham's teammate Caitlin Clark.
While the WNBA continues to crack down on players, maybe they should take a look at the officiating inconsistencies as well, since Cunningham is not the only player who is claiming that referees have not been up to the mark recently. According to ESPN, several coaches and players, like Becky Hammon and Angel Reese, have also been vocal about bad officiating this season.
Maybe the league needs to take a look at the officials and make some major changes on that end, too, to give the rest of the league some assurance that officials are not getting a blind benefit of the doubt.
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