NEW YORK (AP) — Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve has been fined $15,000 by the WNBA for her comments and conduct after her team's Game 3 semifinal loss to the Phoenix Mercury, a person familiar with the penalty told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made.
The fine is believed to be the biggest for an individual coach or player in league history. The WNBA doesn't publicize the amount of fines.
Additionally, Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White and Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon were fined $1,000 each for their public comments on WNBA officiating in which they defended Reeve. Hammon and White's teams face off on Tuesday night in a decisive Game 5 with a trip to the WNBA Finals on the line.
The Athletic first reported the fines.
Both coaches backed up Reeve’s criticism and have been outspoken throughout the season on leaguewide officiating problems. White told reporters on Monday at Indiana’s practice that she “got fined for supporting Cheryl, which I think is crazy.”
“I think that she made a lot of valid points,” White said Sunday. “A lot of the same kind of conversations are happening. It’s happening from every team, from every franchise, from every coach, from every player. And I think at some point there has to be some accountability.”
Hammon also defended Reeve.
“From what I heard, she did not tell a lie,” Hammon said before the Aces' Game 4 loss to Indiana. “She said the truth. A lot of people thought it wasn’t a foul, so let me give you an analogy. In the NFL, if you are a wide receiver, and you’re going for a ball, and the ball is going this direction, you’re going this direction, and then the defender is coming, you don’t get to run through that wide receiver to get to the ball, even though the ball is loose.”
Besides the fine, the league suspended Reeve for Game 4, which the Lynx lost and were eliminated from the playoffs. This was the first time in the history of the WNBA that a coach had been suspended for a playoff game.
“Her conduct and comments included aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection with 21.8 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court, and remarks made in a post-game press conference,” the league said in a statement Saturday.
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