“Never Want To Be A Ref”: Paige Bueckers Addresses Emotions Following Technical Foul in Loss vs the Atlanta Dream
May 18, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts after a play against the Washington Mystics during the second half at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images ©Chris Jones-Imagn Images Paige Bueckers’ frustrating night against the Atlanta Dream didn’t end simply with a tough loss and one of the worst shooting performances of her young WNBA career. It also included a controversial technical foul that she found genuinely unbelievable, and one that, in her view, should never have been called in the first place.
For Bueckers, the broader issue goes beyond just this one incident. She believes that when it comes to technical fouls specifically, referees could afford to extend a little more leniency to players. Physical fouls, fine, call them as strictly as the rulebook demands.
But technicals, in her view, are different. And so they deserve a different standard of judgment, unless a situation completely spirals out of hand. That said, Bueckers is also careful to acknowledge just how difficult the job of officiating truly is.
“I would never want to be a ref. It’s a really extremely hard job, and they get criticized just as much as a player, so it’s tough to manage sometimes,” she said, as per beat reporter Myles Ehrlich. The specific incident that drew Paige Bueckers’ technical foul makes her argument all the more understandable.
It occurred late in the third quarter, when she drove to the basket and drew a non-shooting foul from an Atlanta defender. Visibly frustrated, Bueckers clapped her hands in an expression of emotion, and official Kevin Fahy interpreted the gesture as unsportsmanlike and assessed a technical foul. Even her head coach Jose Fernandez found the call difficult to believe .
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