Refereeing in the WNBA has been a much-discussed topic all season long. Various coaches and players have already spoken on the matter, asking for more consistency and fewer overlooked fouls. Golden State Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase has been especially vocal.
She also brought up the officiating in her postgame press conference after the Valkyries’ second consecutive loss to the Las Vegas Aces.
“If the Aces are shooting 16 percent in the fourth quarter and then they’re getting five more free throws, that’s very convenient. So, I’m just saying we've got to be consistent. The calls have to be consistent,” Nakase said about the officiating. “If Jackie Young is shooting a jumper and then, yeah, we touch her. That’s fine. But if a Carla Leite shoots a jumper and she gets touched by Jewell Loyd, you’ve got to tell me what is the reason…You guys saw the game. It was the same shot, and the consistency of the calls is not the same.”
The Valkyries and Aces played a physical game
Las Vegas and Golden State met for the second consecutive game. Unlike the last meeting, it was a close contest. The Aces secured the 78-72 win, but the Valkyries battled until the last second.
The game had big implications for the playoff standings, as the Aces won the tiebreaker over the Valkyries. Given the stakes, it was a hard-fought, physical game. Veronica Burton was even called for a flagrant foul, and Dana Evans and Carla Leite got into it in the fourth quarter.
The game featured a total of 43 called fouls—19 on the Aces and 24 on the Valkyries. While the Aces got more free throws, especially in the fourth quarter, the Valkyries made more of theirs. Golden State went 18-19 from the line. Meanwhile, the Aces went 19-25, leaving a bunch of points at the free throw line.
This isn’t the first time Natalie Nakase has called out the officiating
Natalie Nakase is no stranger to advocating for more consistent officiating. In mid-July, she called out the officiating when the Valkyries lost to the Phoenix Mercury after Alyssa Thomas was awarded free throws to decide the game on a play against Cecilia Zandalasini that Nakase believed was clean defense.
Earlier last month, she complained about the free-throw discrepancy in a Valkyires’ loss to the Atlanta Dream and the officials’ inability to give her “direct answers.” Before that, Nakase received the first technical foul of her head coaching career when she argued with the referees during a loss to Minnesota.
Nakase is not alone with these complaints, either. The WNBA has frequently been under fire for the officiating and the systematic issues that cause these shortcomings on the court. Due to pay disparities, the WNBA simply doesn’t attract the best referees, and many officials understandably see it as more of a stepping stone to a better job than anything else. NBA officials are salaried full-time employees, while WNBA referees are paid by the game and make even significantly less than NCAA referees.