Sophie Cunningham Says 'Everyone' in WNBA Is Upset with Refs, 'I Just Am Over Them'

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham believes there's a broad consensus within the WNBA about the state of officiating.

In the newest episode of The Young Man and The Three, Cunningham said at the 34:08 mark she's "over" the referees in the WNBA and that "everyone feels that way."

"I promise you, everyone in our league feels that way and I'm just kind of the only one who says something," she said.

The 29-year-old has written multiple checks to the WNBA office this season for public criticism about the refs, and she isn't the only notable player who got reprimanded for a similar offense.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a single professional sports league where the athletes are uniformly satisfied with how the game is officiated. Even taking that into account, this discourse is particularly loud in the WNBA.

That's partly because of some nuances that are specific to the W.

The league doesn't have a centralized replay center like the NBA's in Secaucus, New Jersey. That can result in some calls being missed.

Having referees in the WNBA also work NBA G League and college games can present another problem.

"You're working three very different kinds of basketball," said Jacob Tingle, director of sport management at Trinity University who is part of a research network for sports referees, in an interview with Ira Gorawara of the Los Angeles Times. "The reason the NBA or MLB works is because that's all you do — you're working the same kind of game only."

Players in the WNBA have a litany of topics they want to address in negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement, and it will be almost impossible to solve everything.

The standard of refereeing is probably far down on the list, but it's something that's at least worth discussing with team owners.