WNBA deletes post that appears to show Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers wagering on Dream-Wings game
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- The WNBA deleted a social media post showing Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers joking about a $400 wager on their teams’ game.
- Reese delivered 22 points and 12 rebounds in Atlanta’s 82-81 victory, then laughed about “requesting my Apple Pay” from Bueckers.
- League rules strictly bar players from wagering on WNBA games, with potential fines, suspensions or dismissal.
The WNBA has deleted a social media post that appears to show two of its star players, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, making a $400 bet with each other on their teams’ game — an act that seems to be in violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
The post was made Wednesday afternoon on X ahead of that night’s game between Reese’s Atlanta Dream and Bueckers’ Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, and deleted soon after. It featured a video that showed Bueckers talking to a reporter, who mentions that “at All-Star weekend, you and Angel made a bet with each other on this game.”
Bueckers appears to jokingly play dumb. “We did?” she asked.
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The video then cuts to footage of Reese and Bueckers, apparently at practice during last weekend’s All-Star festivities in Chicago, joking around and making a friendly wager with each other on the Dream-Wings game later that week.
“If y’all win, you get your 400,” Reese appears to say before adding that if Atlanta wins, “you owe me 400.”
A WNBA spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Times: “While the social media post was intended to be lighthearted, WNBA players are well aware of the league’s policies prohibiting betting on WNBA games and receive training every year reinforcing those policies. We recognized that the post missed the mark, removed it shortly after it was published, and addressed the matter internally.
WNBA veteran Brianna Turner says the Indiana Fever fired a male staffer for sexual harassment and urged players to stay silent. The Fever issued a broad statement but declined to address Turner’s claims.
“We will also use this as an opportunity to reemphasize with the players involved that conversations about wagering on WNBA games, even when intended as a joke, can have negative consequences.”
Reese had 22 points and 12 rebounds in her team’s 82-81 victory against the Dream. During a postgame news conference, Reese laughed out loud when a reporter made reference to the wager she had with Bueckers.
“Yeah, I’ll be requesting my Apple Pay after this,” Reese said.
Reese also apparently was alluding to the bet when she added the hashtag #cuatrocientos (Spanish for four hundred) to an X post later that night.
The acrimony seems to have reached a new flashpoint, as discussions about race, gender and sexuality made headlines ahead of Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game.
Bueckers, who had 16 points in the loss, was not asked about the bet after the game.
According to Article XIV, Section 5(c) of the league’s CBA, “Any player found by the Commissioner after a hearing to have been guilty of wagering (directly or indirectly), or of offering or attempting to wager, money or anything of value on the outcome, score, or any other aspect of any WNBA Competition shall, in the sole discretion of the Commissioner, be subject to a fine, suspension, and/or dismissal and disqualification from any further association with the WNBA.”
The Women’s National Basketball Players Assn., the Wings and the Dream did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
