Camera Catches Paige Bueckers For How She Reacted Towards WNBA Officials Despite Being Ruled Out

Despite sitting out against the Portland Fire, Dallas Wings point guard Paige Bueckers could not avoid becoming the center of attention. As her competitive side tried to take over a call she disagreed with, her humorous side came out to give her fans some nostalgia, and the cameras didn’t miss capturing it all.

Anyone who watched the Saturday night game saw how close it was from the get-go, even though the fire led at least 71 percent of the game. The two teams played an end-to-end game as the game tied 9 times with 14 lead changes. But even though the hosts were clearly in foul trouble, Bueckers wouldn’t stay quiet if she could fight for her team.

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So, when a foul was not called during the intense game, the injured point guard approached the floor trying to talk to the referee. When it became apparent that they wouldn’t reason with her, she took off her glasses and jokingly smashed them across her right knee as if angry. She laughed as she walked off the floor. Probably, the referees either didn’t see what she did or understood it was a joke and let it go, or else, she would be signing a check to the league.

Technically, she could have been penalized for protesting the referees and coming onto the court as a non-active player. The WNBA has penalized players and even coaches for their anti-referee statements and protests in the past, including a $15,000 fine to the Minnesota Lynx head coach, Cheryl Reeve, who stormed the court and argued with the referees last year. She also heavily criticized the officials in her post-game press conference. What’s interesting is that this wouldn’t be Bueckers’ first referee-glasses joke in the WNBA.

Last season, when she was again sitting out of the team’s game against the Las Vegas Aces, the point guard was in a similar situation. Then, her teammate Teaira McCowen was poked in the eyes with 9:36 remaining in the regulation and the Aces leading 73-58.

“Need my glasses?,” she said with a smirk after quickly standing up from the bench.

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Social media made it viral for her asking the referee for an apparent foul call not called. However, she later cleared the air:

“What’s funny is social media,” said Bueckers before the next matchup. “I actually wasn’t talking to the ref. Teaira got poked in the eye, I know you guys have the clip. She got poked in the eye, so I was offering T my glasses, not the ref. So I just want to make that clear.”

She got away without a punishment then as well. However, her team could not get away with a win either time. They fell to the Aces 106-80 in 2025. This time, they lost to the expansion team with a last-minute call that may as well be controversial.

With 3.5 seconds left in the game and the score tied 83-83, Aziaha James had some contact and fell to the ground. Yet, there was no call. Meanwhile, as Fire’s Emily Engstler was trying for a fastbreak, she fell after clashing into Alysha Clark, and that foul was called, giving the hosts two free throws.

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Nevertheless, coach Jose Fernandez did not blame the loss on the referees or the decision on the final play.

“That’s what I talked to our guys about. I thought that sideline out of bounds, we got a backdoor, and then you have to get some stops,” Fernandez said. “Everything gets magnified at the end of the game, right? But if we do things differently in possession one, 12, 24, or 60, it doesn’t come down to that.”

Entering the next game against the Las Vegas Aces, however, the Wings would certainly need their star point guard up and ready.