During last year’s All-Star Weekend, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert promised the league would fix its officiating problem. But nearly two months into the 2026 season, it appears everything is still a mess.
Last year, poor officiating became one of the league’s biggest storylines, overshadowing everything from playoff races to the WNBA Finals. Coaches publicly blasted referees, players openly questioned the consistency of calls, and Engelbert eventually acknowledged that something had to change.
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So the league assembled a task force of coaches and executives to address concerns over excessive physicality, freedom of movement and consistency in officiating. The WNBA also hired longtime official Eric Brewton as its new referee performance and development advisor.
And yet, here we are again.
Perhaps the best example came a couple of weeks ago, when Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark took a shot to the throat from Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas during a loose-ball sequence. Officials reviewed the play in real time and declined to assess a flagrant foul.
Days later, the league upgraded the play to a Flagrant 2 and suspended Thomas for one game.
Clark made it clear she believed officials got it wrong.
“I did think it was a flagrant foul,” she said.
But she also said the issue extends far beyond one missed call.
“It’s kind of been a discussion for three years now, and I think we really need to do a better job protecting the people in this league,” Clark said Friday. “I’ve been involved in a few of those plays, but there’s been plenty of others across the league that haven’t been called. You go back postgame or whatever it is, teams submit clips and nothing changes. I think overall the league has to do better.”
FORMER NBA DOCTOR WARNS OF DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR CAITLIN CLARK IF HARD CONTACT ISSUES CONTINUE
Clark also called for greater investment in officiating.
“Overall, the league just has to do better and we have to invest in those areas,” she said. “The technology can get better. We can treat the referees a little bit better. Pay them like they’re full-time employees.”
The concerns don’t stop with Clark.
According to a report from The Athletic, coaches and general managers from eight different teams agreed that the quality of WNBA officiating remains subpar and that additional resources, accountability and investment are desperately needed.
“Dangle a bigger carrot,” one coach told the outlet. “Pay them more money. Go get better talent to come to the W. I don’t think we have the best talent. We have the best league in the world, but we don’t have the best talent.”
Others believe the league’s review process is fundamentally broken.
Teams can clip plays and submit them for review, but multiple sources told The Athletic that the system suffers from delays and produces little noticeable improvement from game to game.
There have also been several high-profile officiating blunders this season.
The Chicago Sky were reportedly informed that three critical calls during a June 20 loss to Dallas were all incorrect. In another game, officials failed to realize Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell had fouled out and allowed play to continue before Indiana could substitute her.
“I hate to say it, but that’s gross unawareness,” USA Network analyst Meghan McPeak said during the broadcast.
“This should never happen,” WNBA legend Tamika Catchings added.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Dream guard Jordin Canada couldn’t hide her frustration after a loss to the Washington Mystics.
“I’m going to get fined, but I don’t care,” Canada said. “Tonight, the officiating was awful.”
She even described one sequence where an official admitted to making the wrong call.
“But that doesn’t help me, because now I have two fouls,” Canada said.
That pretty much sums up where the WNBA finds itself right now.
The league knew officiating had become a problem, so it formed a task force and (supposedly) implemented changes. It talked about protecting players and creating consistency.
And yet players, coaches and executives are still having the exact same conversations they were having a year ago.
Nobody is asking for perfection. Officiating professional basketball games is incredibly difficult.
But for a league currently enjoying the most successful era in its history — expansions, record television audiences, a $3 billion media rights deal — something has to change.
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Maybe that means better training, better communication, a stronger review process and more clarity on what actually constitutes a foul. Maybe that means hiring full-time refs and paying them a living wage. A novel concept.
But at some point, “we’re working on it” doesn’t cut it anymore.
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