Last week, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve praised the work of the WNBA officiating task force that she participated in this winter. There had been growing frustration with the physicality of the game over the last few years—with a few especially notable flashpoints. But the situation was poised to improve with new points of education and refereeing emphasis for 2026.
“How our game has looked the last two years is not how we want it going forward,” Reeve told national media last Tuesday. “We’re working really hard because we don’t want the level of physicality that we’ve seen in our game, and so I’m confident that the game is gonna therefore be more fluid—freedom of movement. We play beautiful basketball in the WNBA. We gotta make sure that it’s not marred with unnecessary physical contact.”
