WNBA takes a hard line on technical flagrant foul fines Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve speaks out

Cheryl Reeve was crowned queen of crashouts. What frustrated the Minnesota Lynx coach most was that Alyssa Thomas made contact with Napheesa Collier, but the call wasn’t made and she limped to the locker room in tears. Reeve was fined the most in WNBA history ($15,000) as she called for a “change in leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating.” Now, the fines are going to go up with the new CBA but Reeve is still optimistic about the future of the game.

The fine for a technical foul now starts at $500 instead of $200 last year, a Front Office Sports report noted. It is $750 for technical foul numbers 4-7 and up to $1500 at No. 8 and a suspension of the game. The Flagrant fouls also go up, with the cost to the players being $500 and not $200 per foul. The league added fines for flopping, with their second violation resulting in a $100 fine that would increase by $100 each subsequent time. While the Fines are rising, Reeve is looking forward to reducing physicality and raising standards of the game.

I think what I’m excited about is there’s an understanding that how our game has looked the last two years is not how we want it going forward. “While they were working on the collective bargaining agreement, we were working on the state of the game,” she said in the recent media availability. There are a lot of stakeholders involved in this and it might take a little time to calibrate and get to where we want to be he said.

Many players and coaches were given technical fouls for arguing with referee calls so better refereeing can result in a lesser number of technical fouls. Also, the increase of the fines is slower than proportional to the salaries. Wages increased 5 times, and the fines are increasing 2.5 times at the maximum. But that slight bump will discourage players from making flagrant fouls. And Reeve wants just that, less contact.

“We are putting in a lot of effort because we don’t want the physicality that we have seen in our game,” Reeve added. “I'm sure the game will be more fluid and allow for more freedom of movement. We play beautiful basketball in the WNBA and we have to make sure that it’s not tainted with unnecessary physical contact.”

The refs are already calling more fouls for less contact in the preseason. “I thought you could be physical in the W and every time you touch someone it’s a foul,” said Azzi Fudd. Early indicators suggest the league is heading toward a faster, more free-flowing game. Like the NBA, it is expected to be offense friendly. Whether that is progress or not is debatable but it is much needed in terms of player fitness.

In the same window the WNBA did a 40 game season, it also had 220+ injuries in a 44 game season. It got worse because there was too much contact and not enough bodies. We have now 12 compulsory spots and 2 developmental spots to give some breathing room to the teams.”

Cheryl Reeve wants to see the WNBA shed its “physical” reputation and become a little more like the NBA. And this change in officiating and approach is going to impact the defensive schemes of several teams in the league.

Cheryl Reeve’s Demand Makes Many WNBA Teams Change Course

The WNBA’s willingness to let the force be brute gave multiple teams a pretty simple game plan on how to defend. Let's look at the best defensive teams from last year. The Minnesota Lynx of Cheryl Reeve finished first, the Atlanta Dream were second and the Valkyries third. All Three were physical but the Dream and Valkyries were even more so. Especially against smaller teams like the Indiana Fever and the Washington Mystics.

“We didn’t match their physicality. “That’s going to be the M.O. against us all year long,” Stephanie White said after their Dream loss. “Teams are going to be physical. That’s how I’d play us Then later in the season the Golden State Valkyries managed to hold off Caitlin Clark using the same strategy. She finished with 11 points but was 3 for 14 shooting including 0 for 7 from beyond the arc.

I mean, you saw what we are doing. We were being troublemakers. Natalie Nakase: “We know she’s not into physical stuff. The Phoenix Mercury did that too especially in that semifinal series against the Lynx that Reeve was so frustrated about. Now, the referees are calling more fouls on contact so these teams are going to have to adjust the way they play.

And it’s not easy to change the approach in a month of training camp.” So fans can expect these teams to top the fouling charts. The sets would change because defenders won’t be able to get in the face of a shooter anymore, which could increase the advent of double teams. That is, of course, assuming the referees keep it up and grind down the extra physicality.