{"id":789083,"date":"2026-07-28T10:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/789083\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:07:10","slug":"wnbas-emphasis-on-officiating-is-noticeable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/789083\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA\u2019s emphasis on officiating is noticeable"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s continued this season with heated exchanges between Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For its part, the league has taken steps to strengthen its officiating arm, creating an officiating task force in the offseason, hiring five new officials before the start of the season, and tapping veteran official Eric Brewton as a referee performance and development advisor.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the league\u2019s next measure last week before the All-Star Game in Chicago. Next season, the league will launch its own replay center, \u201cthe centralized hub for all reviewable replay situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WNBA will lean on the same Secaucus, N.J., facility that the NBA has used since 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most significant investments we\u2019ve ever made in our basketball operations,\u201d Engelbert said.<\/a> \u201cThis investment of tens of millions of dollars will help bring greater consistency, efficiency and transparency to our officiating process, while continuing to improve the quality of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The added emphasis on officiating has been noticeable, but Engelbert acknowledged players are still adjusting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s paying off,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we heard from players: We want more freedom of movement. Now there\u2019s always a calibration and adjustment period, more fouls are being called but I think it\u2019s adjusting even since over the past couple weeks. I know, officiating, we always need to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season, officials are calling 40.4 fouls per game, the highest rate since 2008 (41.6).<\/p>\n

Personal fouls are up to 15.0 per game from 12.4 last season. Shooting fouls are up to 17.2 per game from 15.2 a year ago. Technical fouls are down a tick to 0.6 per game, while loose-ball fouls are up to 3.0 per game.<\/p>\n

Some players have reaped the benefits.<\/p>\n

Last year, Phoenix\u2019s Kahleah Copper drew 2.8 fouls per game. This season, she\u2019s drawing 5.4. As a rookie a year ago, Washington\u2019s Sonia Citron averaged 3.9 drawn fouls per game. This season, she\u2019s drawing 6.3. Clark drew 4.5 fouls per game in an injury-shortened 2025 season, but she\u2019s drawing 6.1 this year. Even A\u2019ja Wilson, who led the league with 6.7 fouls drawn per game a year ago for the Aces, is up to 7.5 this season.<\/p>\n

Wilson (7.5), Citron (6.3), Clark (6.1), and Copper (5.4) are all in the top 10 in free throw attempts per game.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, coaches have challenged 257 calls this season and 134 (52 percent) have been overturned.<\/p>\n

The improvements are still a work in progress, but Engelbert said, \u201cWe\u2019re throwing a lot at this to make sure we have the best officials in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

1. Dream at Wings, Wednesday: With the fourth-best record in the league, the Wings are putting together their best season since 2023, with Jessica Shepard and Paige Bueckers leading the way. But they\u2019re only a game and a half ahead of the Dream, who\u2019ve had their number in two previous meetings this season and are looking to complete the regular-season sweep.<\/p>\n

2. Liberty at Aces, Thursday: The Liberty snapped a four-game losing streak with wins over Dallas and Chicago going into the break. Their first game on the back end of the season will be a test, but it\u2019s one they usually get up for. They\u2019ve won seven of their last eight regular-season meetings against Vegas.<\/p>\n

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.<\/p>\n

Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s continued this season with heated exchanges between Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and officials. For its part,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-789083","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\/789083","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=789083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}