The highly anticipated matchup between the Atlanta Dream and the Connecticut Sun was supposed to be about Brittney Griner facing her former team. However, when the final buzzer went off, it was hardly what anyone was talking about. Instead, what turned heads was the Sun player’s incident with Angel Reese and the impending fine.

With 7:43 remaining in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, Atlanta held a slim 68-65 lead. That’s when Reese found herself battling Griner underneath the basket after a missed shot. As both players fought for position and attempted to secure the ball, officials saw Griner’s hand wrapped around the Dream forward, causing Reese to fall to the floor.

As a result, officials assessed Griner with her first Flagrant 1 foul of the 2026 season, which sent Reese to the free-throw line, where she converted one of her two attempts.

The new CBA made flagrant fouls expensive, and now, Griner will pay the price.

A Flagrant 1 foul carries an automatic $500 fine and one flagrant point. Whereas a Flagrant 2 results in a $1,000 fine, two flagrant points, and an automatic ejection. Players who accumulate four flagrant points during the season are subject to an automatic one-game suspension.

Griner now has one flagrant point; three more trigger automatic suspension. But her situation doesn’t exist in isolation.

After the league faced heavy criticism from players over inconsistent foul calls and rising physicality last season, the WNBA formed an officiating task force and implemented stricter foul rules and fines to reduce unnecessary contact.

Even Angel Reese has her own history of flagrant fouls. The 24-year-old received a call after she got tangled up with Kyara Linskens of the Phoenix Mercury during the opening minutes of the fourth quarter in a game last month. Reese caught Linskens around the neck and face with her shoulder, which sent the Mercury center crashing to the floor.

But that’s all for penalties as Reese’s recent game definitely warrants a celebration (and not just because of her team’s win)!

Angel Reese reaches WNBA milestone 

While the Griner-Reese collision generated plenty of attention, Atlanta’s performance on the court ultimately stole the show.

Thanks to Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, who combined for 62 points, the Dream was able to push past the Sun 91-75 and secured their fourth straight victory over Connecticut.

However, this matchup also featured an interesting storyline before tip-off. After Griner spent her 2025 season with the Dream, many fans thought her familiarity with Atlanta’s style could help Connecticut gain an edge.

But whenever Griner and her teammates tried to get close, Atlanta pulled away, and Reese led the charge with her first three-pointer as a Dream player. Her shot sparked a 7-0 run that gave Atlanta an advantage that the Sun were never able to come back against.

Reese finished the night with 12 points and 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season, which also marked another milestone in her young career as she recorded her 1,000th career WNBA points.

However, with this game behind them, what’s next is something fans have been craving. Atlanta faces Indiana on June 4 in a matchup that will once again put Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark on the same court.

Reese and Clark have had one of basketball’s most talked-about rivalries ever since their college days. So every time they have fought against each other, the games have generated massive numbers and headlines, and there is no doubt the upcoming one will be one of those.