Watch: Ref Has Enough of Angel Reese, Kicks Her Out of Game During Shocking Moment
T.S. Eliot wrote in “The Waste Land” that April was the cruelest month. For the WNBA’s Angel Reese, however, the month of June is turning out that way, instead.
It’s only four days into the sixth month of the year, but Reese — the Chicago Sky’s “Hey, I was picked in the first round of the draft too!” rookie — hasn’t made a good go of it. On Saturday, she went viral for celebrating a hard off-ball foul against No. 1 draft pick and former University of Iowa star Caitlin Clark during a 71-70 loss to Clark’s lowly Indiana Fever.
Angel Reese jumping off the bench to cheer for the cheap shot on Caitlin Clark is wild.
It’s not a good look, Angel…
— ✭ Lacy ✭ (@FBCowboysQueen) June 1, 2024
On Monday, she doth protested too much about Clark’s burgeoning fame, insisting to reporters that “I’ll go down in history” and that “I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘the reason why we watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person, it’s because of me, too,’ and I want y’all to realize that.”
Just in case you wanted to know who that “one person” is who has Americans paying attention to the WNBA, a little hint: I’ve mentioned two WNBA players so far in this article, and it’s the one who’s not Angel Reese.
Then on Tuesday, Reese got herself kicked out of a game for a double-technical, her first ejection of the young season.
Just in case you weren’t keeping track, that’s Reese’s June 1st, 3rd and 4th in a nutshell. Methinks that if T.S. Eliot stuck around for another 59 years and happened to be a women’s hoops-head, he would have revised “The Waste Land” and shifted the cruelest month back by 61 days.
The double technical came in the closing moments of the New York Liberty’s 88-75 victory over the Sky, during which Reese had 13 points. Chennedy Carter, the player who committed the viral foul on Clark Saturday, led the team with 16 points. Meanwhile, Breanna Stewart of the Liberty took over the game with a season-high 33 points, according to The Associated Press.
The loss dropped the Sky to 3-5 and fourth place out of six in the Eastern Conference standings.
However, what most people are going to be talking about is the interaction between Reese and referee Charles Watson.
Angel Reese got a technical for this… 😳pic.twitter.com/5vtqaXS3Yh
— SM (@SMHighlights1) June 5, 2024
A replay shows that a dismissive hand-gesture toward Watson — combined with whatever words might have been exchanged between the two — led to her getting the toss:
Angel Reese was ejected from tonight’s game after being given a double technical on this exchange with the ref
(via @SkyMarquee)pic.twitter.com/cCmfEZZU11
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 5, 2024
Indeed, reports say that there might have been a few choice asterisked words thrown in there that got Watson’s gander, with a Chicago Tribune writer alleging that one of the technicals was for the hand wave and another for disrespectful language. Athlon Sports reported the exact words were allegedly “that’s bulls**t.”
Just spoke with lead official Maj Forsberg about the Angel Reese ejection.
Reese received the first technical foul for “disrespectfully addressing” the official. The second technical was for waving off the official.
— Julia Poe (@byjuliapoe) June 5, 2024
Given that it was Reese’s fifth personal foul to begin with, according to the New York Post, it’s not as if she hadn’t been in trouble before on the night. But as the much of the social media reaction showed, the game ejection came across as surprising — even shocking — to some viewers.
It’s worth noting that some came to her Reese’s defense over the controversial call, with Lonzo Ball of the Chicago Bulls — the Sky’s NBA counterpart — offering to pay her fine:
Ref that threw out @Reese10Angel is weak btw… You know who you are (Keep ya money Angel I got you)
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) June 5, 2024
Wherever will he come up with the cash? After all, Reese was fined a whole $1,000 for refusing to talk to the media after the Sky’s loss to the Fever over the weekend. (Another June cruelty Angel has been subjected to.)
Sure, Lonzo might have enough for lunch after footing the bill for Reese’s T, given that he’s slated to make over $21 million in 2024-25, but what about dinner?
As expected, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball has picked up the $21.4 million option on his contract for 2024-2025, sources tell ESPN. Ball has missed the last 2.5 seasons with a knee injury. He signed an original four-year, $80M free agent deal in 2021. pic.twitter.com/KJt3cx2DNs
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2024
Meanwhile, others noted that Tuesday night’s performance was yet more evidence of why Reese isn’t quite ready to be the “face of the league” yet.
Angel Reese shot 3-12 and got ejected lmao can we stop the face of the league talks now pic.twitter.com/Nbi4RKAOoD
— John (@iam_johnw) June 5, 2024
Now, granted, pretty much every athlete — especially a rookie — is going to have good and bad nights. But Reese still isn’t putting up the kind of numbers that would justify even mentioning her in the conversation for Rookie of the Year.
As of Tuesday, she’s averaging exactly five points per game less than Caitlin Clark’s pace — 15.6 for Clark vs. 10.6 for Reese — and the only place Reese has a statistical advantage is in rebounds. Then again, of course she should have that advantage, given that a forward who’s almost constantly under the basket is going to get more rebounds than a guard whose specialty is shooting threes.
But, remember, Reese is going down in history:
Angel Reese believes the physical play that Caitlin Clark has experienced isn’t new to the WNBA
Just more 👀
“The reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of 1 person. It’s because of me, too. I want y’all to realize that”
More: https://t.co/3fNUxipTTD pic.twitter.com/1YbGG4mWuL
— GNSportsTV (@GNSportsTV) June 3, 2024
Right. The “reason why we’re watching women’s basketball” is because of Reese, too. Because who can resist taking in a WNBA game when The Other Rookie™ is hitting 25 percent of her shots from the field and getting herself tossed in the waning moments of another team loss?
One hopes that Angel can get out of the way of her own hubris — but if she can’t, it’s just a reminder there are 26 more days and nine more Sky games left in the cruelest month of Reese’s rookie year.
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