Free throw attempts and personal foul averages are up, despite outcry for better officiating in WNBA
VIDEO COURTESY: Los Angeles Sparks
“I don’t know if there is a big picture concept to how refs are calling games or not. I think the points of emphasis in games change year to year. I think that the consensus league-wide (is) probably that there’s some inconsistency with refereeing as a whole, but I also think that they have a tough job to do - they can’t call everything. You just want some sort of consistency in the things that they call.”
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By W.G. RAMIREZ
Through Monday's lone WNBA game, just one player in the league is averaging at least 10 free throw attempts per game.
Only eight are attempting six or more per contest - about 5 percent of the league.
The rest of the WNBA is averaging 5.7 free-throw attempts or less per game.
To compare, only one NBA player averaged at least 10 free throw attempts during the past regular season, Giannis Antetokounmpo, while a total of 18 averaged six or more per game - roughly 4.6 percent of the league.
"I don't know if there is a big picture concept to how refs are calling games or not," said one WNBA head coach, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "I think the points of emphasis in games change year to year. I think that the consensus league-wide (is) probably that there's some inconsistency with refereeing as a whole, but I also think that they have a tough job to do - they can't call everything.
"You just want some sort of consistency in the things that they call."
Three-time WNBA All-Star and two-time champion Kelsey Plum is averaging 5.6 free-throw attempts per game, which is a career high over the first 10 games of a season, but is also averaging her second-highest minutes per game (36.2).
NOTHING NEW
As the season approaches the quarter pole, the call for consistency is the one thing that remains, well, consistent.
"I drive more than anyone in the league, so to shoot six free throws is fucking absurd," three-time All-Star Kelsey Plum said after her Los Angeles Sparks lost to the expansion Golden State Valkyries in overtime, 89-81, on Monday. "I got scratches on my face, I got scratches on my body, and these guards on the other team get these ticky-tack fouls, and I'm sick of it.
"I get fouled like that every possession. Rickea (Jackson) gets fouled like that in the post all the time and they don't call it. And I don't know what else to do. It's really frustrating, though."
It's not the first time a player, or coach, or team, has cried foul - no pun intended.
Immediately following last year’s WNBA Finals, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve didn't hold back in calling out the officiating her team endured during their loss in the decisive Game 5, where her team lost in what many believe was a controversial ending.
Reeve didn’t hold back when alluding to what she deemed a pair of missed calls by the referees that benefited Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty.
Not only did Reeve feel the officials missed a travel call when Stewart received an inbound pass with a few seconds left in regulation, but they also awarded her a questionable foul call that ultimately sent the game into overtime.
"I thought today was incredibly disappointing," Reeve said after the game. "We have got to change our challenge rules, and the officials during the game should have a third party. Because that was not a foul. That call should have been reversed on that challenge.
"When we challenged it, if we could have turned that clip in, they would have told us that it was marginal contact and no foul. Guaranteed. Guaranteed."
Reeve later added: "I know all the headlines will be 'Reeve cries foul.' Bring it on. Because this shit was stolen from us."
But the fact is, in 2025, free-throw attempts and personal fouls are higher than they've been in five years.
In games played through June 9, dating back to 2021, we're seeing an average of 20.1 free-throw attempts per game and 19.1 fouls per contest.
In no other season during the past five years did those averages hit plateaus of 20 attempts or 19 fouls per game.
"With Plum, I think just in general, it's probably harder to see fouls on guards than it is for post players, but especially small guards like KP," the anonymous coach added. "Without hearing her comments, I don't know if her complaints are that she was alluding to just last night or if she was complaining because she feels like this is something that has mounted up. But I feel like six free throws a game, it's probably on the high end for guards of her size. And so if she's saying that six should really be 10 a game, then that's another conversation."
Plum is averaging 5.6 free-throw attempts per game, which is a career high over the first 10 games of a season, while averaging her second-highest minutes per game (36.2). Last year through her first 10 games, she averaged a career high 37.1 minutes per contest in the first 10 games, but also just 3.6 free-throw attempts.
WNBA free-throw attempts per game and personal fouls per game averages are both higher an uptick this season, than any of the previous four seasons.
GETTING PHYSICAL
Of course, some could argue the game hasn't been as physical as we've seen it over the past couple of years, which is why the averages have seen an uptick, and where consistency would come to light in the players’ eyes.
After all, the top draft picks from the past two seasons are currently on the shelf, as Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has been sidelined with a quad strain and Dallas Wings star rookie Paige Bueckers just recently cleared concussion protocol, but has yet to return to the court.
Of the players attempting the most free throws per game, the top five are post players, with Washington's Brittney Sykes leading the league at 10.7 free throw attempts per game.
Sykes is followed by New York's Breanna Stewart (8.1), Los Angeles' Dearica Hamby (7.2), Phoenix's Satou Sabally (7.1) and reigning league MVP A'ja Wilson (6.9), of Las Vegas.
"A'ja gets the free throws that she gets, but there can be some people who make a case that she gets too much," the coach also said. "Then there's instances where she gets hammered and doesn't get anything. So, there's a fine line that the refs have to walk there. And I don't really know what the middle ground is."
On June 1 in Seattle, Wilson finished her 19-point performance without a single free-throw attempt, just the fifth time in her career she didn't venture to the charity stripe.
"I thought A’ja Wilson got fouled a few times," Aces coach Becky Hammon said after that particular game. "Uhm, for A'ja to play, I don’t know what 34 minutes, and have zero free throws is crazy."
Walking on eggshells with her comments, Wilson was a little more diplomatic after the game.
"I sometimes just gotta play and just know I'm not getting the call and just keep going, and make sure that I just not let it take me out my game," said Wilson, who has averaged 6.4 free-throw attempts during her career, in both the regular season and playoffs combined. "Most definitely, this is just a league and a game that I can't expect just to get calls."
With plenty of emotion in her voice, Plum wasn't as complimentary as she continued her rant Monday night.
"There's multiple shots at the end of the game, either going into the third, into the fourth, where they're just coming in fucking swinging, and they just don't call anything," Plum said. "Six free throws. I'm playing 40 minutes, touching the paint almost every play is absurd. It's absurd.
"I'll get fined for that and that's fine ... and I needed to make more shots late game, but they're fouling the shit out of me every single play. I'm very frustrated with that, and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it. I don't know what I need to do. I talk to the refs nice, I pray before the game. Like fuck. I'm over it."
