The WNBA officiating is still a problem in 2026. That much is clear after Thursday night’s game between the Liberty and Aces in which Las Vegas pulled out a narrow 104-99 win—with some inadvertent help from the referees.
With roughly 18 seconds left on the clock, the Aces were up by three when A’ja Wilson lost control of the ball on a dribble and knocked it out of bounds. However, the refs ruled it Aces’ ball. The Liberty’s Jonquel Jones was defending Wilson but her hand didn’t even come close to the basketball, as the replay videos will show.
NESBITT: The WNBA Has Another Embarrassing Situation on Its Hands
The Liberty had no more challenges left and couldn’t contest the call on the floor. The Aces’ Jackie Young ended up icing the game with four made free throws and a late steal in one of the W’s most thrilling regular season matchups so far, one that was unfortunately marred by the refs’ badly blown game-changing call.
The call on the floor was Aces' ball.
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) July 31, 2026
Liberty didn't have a challenge.pic.twitter.com/8CvwMAVncp
For those perhaps arguing that the referee didn’t get a good look at Wilson’s turnover, this video angle shows an official on the sideline with a pretty clear line of sight on the play:
The comical, pissed reactions from Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Chris DeMarco when the refs blew the call in not giving the Liberty the ball off A’Ja Wilson’s clear turnover 😂
— The Whole Delivery (@TWDTV1) July 31, 2026
🎥 @sluggahjells #WNBA pic.twitter.com/URK6yq3haf
Even Wilson immediately turned her back and started walking back to her side of the court, believing that it was the Liberty’s possession.
As one can imagine, New York’s players and coaches were rightfully furious at how the end of the game played out.
“Yeah, I did [think it was a missed call],” Breanna Stewart, who passed Candace Parker for 10th place on the W’s all-time scoring leaderboard with 26 points in Thursday’s loss, said postgame. “So did A'ja. She was walking back to half court.”
The flubbed call is hardly the only bad decision from the WNBA refs this season. And compared to other more mainstream narratives out there, not a lot of people are talking about it, given that it’s just a regular season result and it doesn’t involve Fever superstar Caitlin Clark (even if it did involve two of the league’s most esteemed franchises).
But if that’s the reffing standard the W is going to let fly in the crunch time of these games, they’re only asking for a major controversy come the playoffs.
Two years ago in October 2024, the Liberty were also involved in an officiating controversy, only this time they were on the other side of it. Late in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the WNBA Finals against the Lynx, Stewart received an inbounds pass, appeared to get away with a travel and then drew a questionable shooting foul from then-Minnesota forward Alanna Smith. Stewart sank both of her free throws to send the game to OT.
With the Lynx up by 2 points and 5 seconds left in the game, a foul was called on Alanna Smith
— WNBA Universe (@wnbauniverse) October 21, 2024
The Lynx challenged the call but it was unsuccessful. Breanna Stewart hit both free throws and we are going to OT!!#WNBA pic.twitter.com/DzFra6gIis
The contact was minimal at best, and lots of fans—including LeBron James—didn’t like seeing the refs call that in such a tight playoff game. The Liberty went on to beat the Lynx 67-62 in overtime and clinch their first title in franchise history.
The WNBA officials fumbled again in Liberty-Aces—here’s a potential fix that would be well worth the money
To give the WNBA some credit, the league is already taking steps toward improving its persistent officiating plague. Starting in the 2027 season, the WNBA will launch a centralized replay center that’ll serve as a hub for all reviewable replay situations during games and thus help referees on the court make more accurate and efficient calls.
The league plans to utilize the NBA’s replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey, which offers a gamut of specialized replay angles, and theoretically lessen the burden on in-game officials (currently, replays are handled by the same refs who made the initial call).
If the WNBA really wanted to put safeguards in place to prevent officiating from becoming a storyline in the playoffs, though, there’s more that can be done. In following the footsteps of the NBA, the W should also consider rolling out a Last Two Minute Report, or “L2M,” which is essentially a play-by-play document containing all calls in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter (or OT period). The L2M tries to keep NBA referees accountable by acknowledging every correct and missed call during that time span.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said she has discussed with players the possibility of introducing a L2M, but that it would be “another huge allocation” on top of the operating expenses of leveraging the NBA’s replay center.
Even so, adopting a L2M could be well worth the risk and high costs for a growing league that should be sending a simple and much-needed message to its players and fans: We care about the product, too.
