said<\/a>. \u201cI think that is a good thing that they are calling everything because it is making us players and teams be like, okay, we need to stop fouling or we need to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cRight now I know it\u2019s annoying and it kind of sucks maybe as fans because you\u2019re there longer. As players, it kind of sucks because when they\u2019re blowing the whistle every single time down the court, it\u2019s hard to get into a rhythm or a flow. Let playoff basketball, towards the end of the season, be a little bit more physical,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think last year was just so physical and too much from the jump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teams are averaging around 22 foul calls per game in 2026, a sharp jump from 17.5 per team per game last season. That shift is not accidental. During the offseason, the league assembled a task force to address physicality after a 2025 season that saw multiple players miss significant time with injuries. Coaches Cheryl Reeve and Stephanie White helped lead those conversations, and the result was a directive to enforce existing rules on freedom of movement more consistently from the opening tip.<\/p>\n
Cunningham knows that cost firsthand. An MCL injury in 2025 sidelined her, part of a stretch where the Fever also lost Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson to physical play. The memory of last season informs her stance now. Portland Fire head coach Alex Sarama, who watched the task force work from the outside, echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do really feel like the league\u2019s doing some good things to work together collaboratively to figure this out,\u201d he said. Coming from someone who had no seat at the table during the offseason meetings, that endorsement carried weight.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sophie Cunningham\u2019s Praise Lands Differently After Last Season\u2019s Injury Toll<\/p>\n
Rickea Jackson tore her ACL earlier this season in a collision that renewed the same conversation the league spent all offseason trying to resolve. Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud responded by pointing directly at the referees, saying their job is to \u201ccontrol and protect the players\u201d and that they had \u201cfailed to do so\u201d on the play that hurt Jackson.<\/p>\n
Tighter officiating early in the season is uncomfortable, but the alternative was already on display in 2025. Indiana Fever forward Monique Billings, now in her first year with the team, framed the new standard as a challenge players can meet. \u201cYou have to be more disciplined,\u201d she said. \u201cHaving that in mind, knowing that you just have to be a lot sharper, just more on point.\u201d That aligns cleanly with what Sophie Cunningham is saying from a player\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
She is shooting 30.4% from three this season after finishing at 43.2% a year ago. Her shot will come back around. What will not change is Sophie Cunningham\u2019s willingness to say something unpopular when she believes it. In a season where officiating criticism is constant and loud, a Fever guard who has been fined for referee comments going on record to defend those same referees is notable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham has never had a problem saying what she thinks about WNBA officiating. She has said plenty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-666340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}