“Insane”: Sophie Cunningham Takes Issue With Angel Reese Escaping $500 Punishment During WNBA Playoffs

The 2026 WNBA postseason has brought the usual fiery playoff intensity, and no game showcased this as well as Game 3 between the New York Liberty and the Atlanta Dream. Now, almost a week after the game, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham didn’t mince words when breaking down a heated chase-down confrontation that somehow had Angel Reese escape a technical foul, throwing a spotlight right back on the league’s chronic consistency problem.

Cunningham was recently in conversation with her co-host Drew Hanlen on the No Hesitation podcast when Hanlen asked her how she felt about the physicality shown by Angel Reese, specifically targeting two in-game moments. Sophie Cunningham gave a rather blunt assessment of the matter.

“If you’re going to chase someone down the court and get in someone’s ear, that should be a tech. Anytime. That should be a tech. It’s going to be a tech in the regular season. Now, if she were to stay on her side and just kind of yell and say something, I’m all for that. But the fact that she didn’t get a tech on that, I think that’s absolutely insane.”

The sequence Sophie Cunningham is talking about came with 5:57 left in the second quarter of Game 3, with the score at 31-24 in favor of the Dream. Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu screens for Marine Fauthoux, who is driving the ball up the court. Fauthoux was being guarded by Dream’s Isobel Borlase, but the broadcast shows Ionescu making hard contact with Borlase, allowing Fauthoux to move further up. But the play was stopped as Ionescu was called for an offensive foul. But it’s what happened after that made headlines. 

As Ionescu walks away from the interaction, Angel Reese is seen running down the court to confront her and is seen aggressively saying, “You can’t do that,” to the guard. She walks beside Ionescu, talking to her, before Rhyne Howard had to step in and move Reese away, while Jonquel Jones attempted to defuse the entire situation. Reese was not given a technical foul for this heated interaction. A technical foul in the WNBA playoffs would be accompanied by a $500 fine for the player, which Reese managed to escape.

And Cunningham is not the only person who thinks a tech was deserved here. 

The broadcaster’s commentary on the game shows that she, too, thought a tech would be called in this regard. 

“Angel Reese, the whole time, walking down the floor, that should be a T. That should be a T.”

Sophie Cunningham and Drew Hanlen went on to talk about a second sequence, which occurred just a few minutes after the first. The clock had 3:16 left in Q2, and as Reese drove to the basket, the ball was swatted away into the bleachers by Jonquel Jones. Jones then landed in front of Reese, and the two stood off before exchanging a few heated words, leading to a double technical foul being assessed to both players. Cunningham addresses this inconsistency as well on her podcast.

“With [Jonquel Jones], when [Angel Reese] drove and got blocked, I wish that they wouldn’t have gave either of them a tech. I think that’s good playoff basketball and like, let them talk a little s*** to each other… I think that’s fine. So it’s just so weird and inconsistent…if you’re going to not call someone chasing someone down on the court and talking s*** to them, then if someone gets a block and they just go like this and Angel sticks her ground too, don’t call a tech.”

It was somewhat of a physical matchup in a game that was a must-win for the Liberty, as they looked to extend the series, with the Dream already having won the first two games. The matchup featured 22 fouls from the Dream compared to 20 from the Liberty. Reese and Jones received the only double tech of the night, as the Dream out-rebounded the Liberty 33 to 29. 

Eventually, Atlanta secured the win and swept the Liberty in a clean 3-0 series. They are now set to face the Golden State Valkyries in the Finals. The Valkyries swept the Las Vegas Aces in another 3-0 series, clinching their spot in the Finals. Game 1 of this showdown will take place in the Chase Center on October 17, as all eyes fall on Ballhalla.

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