New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart picked up her first WNBA technical foul in nine years on Monday night.
The fourth-quarter technical foul was assessed after Stewart argued with a referee following a steal by Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese.
Reese appeared to make contact with Stewart’s hand as she went up for a shot attempt and lost the ball; a frustrated Stewart then fouled Reese and began yelling at a referee to express her dismay at the no-call.
The referee responded by calling a technical foul on Stewart with 1:55 remaining in the eventual 95-84 loss to the Dream.
The Liberty star spoke to the media about her first technical foul since the 2017 season after the defeat; it was also just the third total technical foul of her career in 10 WNBA seasons.
“That absolutely was for the no-call,” Stewart said about why she received the technical foul. “(Reese) slapped the sh-t out of my hand. So yeah, you gotta see that. Baseline ref, you gotta see that.”
As Stewart was leaving her postgame press conference, she also shouted, “Angel should pay my fine,” according to Liberty beat writer Myles Ehrlich. The Liberty veteran followed up with comments that she told Reese the same thing to her face.
The WNBA fines players $500 for each of their first three technical fouls in a season, meaning Stewart will be subject to that penalty since it is only her first infraction of the year.
After the third technical foul, players are fined $1,000 until an eighth technical when the penalty rises to a $1,500 fine and a one-game suspension.
The fine amounts increased under the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement reached between the league and players prior to this season. Under the former agreement, technical foul fines started at $200 for the first offense.
The collective bargaining agreement also stipulates that fines collected by the WNBA throughout the season are donated to charity.
It is not likely that Reese, who scored 18 points with 10 rebounds in Monday’s win over Liberty, will feel any sympathy for Stewart.
The Atlanta Dream star has already piled up seven technical fouls of her own this season, totaling $5,500 in fines. She also has a base salary this season of around $350,000, while the veteran Stewart will make $1.19 million on the court.
However, Reese dwarfs Stewart in off-court earnings, with Forbes reporting Reese collected over $9 million in endorsement and brand deals last year. By contrast, Stewart’s endorsement earnings totaled an estimated $800,000.
