Paige Bueckers Responds to Viral Sophie Cunningham Comments on Referee Drama

“Everyone is entitled to their own unique personal opinion," Bueckers said pregame on Friday before the Sparks versus Wings matchup.

Bueckers' response comes just days after — following Dallas' 81-80 win over Indiana on Aug. 12 — Cunningham called out both her and the WNBA referees.

"I love Paige to death, do not get me wrong ... I think she’s a hell of a player and would love to play with her one day, but those refs were giving [Bueckers] every whistle last night," she said on a recent podcast episode.

"Like you literally couldn’t touch her, couldn’t touch her," Cunningham added. "If you’re going to do that, then give it to our guards."

The comment was made a month after Cunningham posted a TikTok calling out the league's officiating — captioned, "@ some refs." — prior to July's 2025 WNBA All-Star events.

The Fever guard then took to social media once more — announcing in a X post that the WNBA fined her $500 for the video.

"I got fined $500 for this TikTok," she wrote. "idk why this is funny to me… like ok you got it bud! Cause there’s not more important things to be worried about with our league right now."

Furthermore, also before the All-Star Game, Sparks' star guard Kelsey Plum — named an All-Star for the fourth consecutive year — delivered a similar statement.

At WNBA All-Star media availability on Friday morning, Plum was brutally honest when speaking about recent WNBA officiating — and clear issues with the league's refs, per Robin Lundberg.

"I think people are getting frustrated at the consistency," Plum said. "So it's a ticky-tack [foul] here, then someone gets absolutely assaulted over here — and like, where is the line? And when did we call it? Why did we call it?

"I also think, too, a lot of teams specifically play me very physical, which I get," she continued. "But a foul is a foul — a foul in the first quarter is a foul in the fourth quarter ... The officiating across the board, people have been frustrated with."