The WNBA reversed a technical foul penalty against Dallas Wings player Paige Bueckers on Sunday, two days after the controversial call was made during a game.
The incident occurred when Bueckers was attacking the basket during the third quarter and received a foul call from Indya Nivar. After the referee’s whistle, Bueckers clapped her hands three times, which resulted in the technical foul being assessed.
“I was hyped and showing passion and joy and I got penalized for that,” the second-year guard told reporters Saturday.
The league’s reversal spares Bueckers from paying a $500 penalty. The decision also preserves a friendly wager between Bueckers and teammate Alysha Clark, who bet that Bueckers could avoid receiving any technical fouls this season. Clark revealed she assisted in getting the call overturned.
“I gave her a little something to send in with it,” Clark said. “I just felt it wasn’t warranted. If I’m going to win money out of her I want it to be legit. I want to be able to sleep at night. I don’t want that it’s not deserving to get her money.”
While disagreeing with the original call, Bueckers recognized that league referees face a “really extremely hard job” and are working to maintain better game control compared to the previous season.
Nevertheless, she argued that players should have the freedom to display emotion during games.
“See that we were down a ton and we’re making a run, so we’re obviously going to be hyped up and showing a bunch of passion and joy and fire, like, that’s what basketball’s all about,” Bueckers said.
In Sunday’s action, Bueckers contributed 24 points as the Wings defeated the New York Liberty 91-76, improving their season record to 4-3.
