The opinion on refs is more consistent than the refs themselves. Among CBAs, profit sharing, and the injuries, there’s another mounting problem WNBA players have with the league – the officiating. For Indiana Fever, it’s been loud. Right from the physicality being questioned during Caitlin Clark’s presence early on, to Sophie Cunningham not shying away from calling out a little ‘favorism,’ the dissatisfaction has been evident. The Fever guard’s claims, however, extended to Paige Bueckers. And now, the rookie has some thoughts.

It started with Sophie Cunningham claiming, “those refs were giving her every freakin’ whistle,” on the latest episode of the Show Me Something podcast this week. You can understand her frustration with the officiating. The Fever is shorthanded and missing their chief bucket-getter.

Amid Fever’s grudges with the refs, which have been getting louder since the All-Star break (that Clark had to sit out), they lost to the Dallas Wings by one point. Cunningham, with no animosity to the primary scorer of the Wings, blamed the inconsistent refereeing.

Now, even Paige Bueckers has her own spat with referees. But when she heard Cunningham’s opinion, she sent an indirect response through the reporters. – “Everyone is entitled to their own unique personal opinion.” Oh, frosty.

We kid. No grudges. Just good ol’ Paige diplomacy. Just like Cunningham didn’t directly target Bueckers as much as call out the referees, she, too, has no hard feelings on this.

And how can she? Along with a win on CC’s team, Bueckers finished with 16 points on 6 of 19 shooting and only took four free throws. Her comeback from a near-serious injury scare is going pretty strong. Or she too would’ve had a bone to pick with the refs.

Fever star shows the different standard for Paige Bueckers

The full context of Sophie Cunningham’s feelings were, “I love Paige to death… Do not get me wrong. I think she’s a helluva player and would love to play with her one day. But those refs were giving her every freakin’ whistle last night. Like, you literally couldn’t touch her. That s–t is so annoying to me. And if you’re gonna do that, then give it to our guards. I just hate the inconsistency.” She proceeded to praise Bueckers’ talent, even predicted Hall of Fame in her future, and maybe even GOAT status.

During the game, Bueckers drew a few hand-check fouls against Cunningham and Lexie Hull, who are carrying the injury-ridden Fever. The UConn standout herself had a tiff with the refs last month. She was sidelined by an injury recently but during one game, she got up from the bench, walked up to a referee and apparently said, “Do you need my glasses?”

She’s even gone viral for apparently imitating referees. Funnily, Cunningham got a $500 fine for taunting referees on TikTok, and then again, $1500 for her remarks on the first episode of her podcast. So yeah, we can see the league’s inconsistency.

Cunningham’s commentary isn’t new either. She’s been on a season-long campaign to fix the officiating, even with the fine. Controversially, she even drew an ejection for defending Clark. But will that stop her? We hope not.