FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT: THE RULE THAT DOESN’T EXIST IN THE WNBA (BUT SHOULD)

Freedom of movement doesn’t exist in the WNBA.

Not “doesn’t get enforced.” Not “needs more consistency.” It flat-out does not exist.

And everyone sees the cost. Tyler Marsh nearly went full Cheryl Reeve on a ref in Chicago.

Napheesa Collier limps off after a late-game mugging in Phoenix.

Aliyah Boston gets mauled in the post like she’s running dive plays for the Colts. Kelsey Mitchell’s jersey is yanked around so much she might as well be crowd-surfing at Rolling Loud.

(PS: We haven’t even talked about the Angel Reese body slam her rookie year, or the countless numbers of flagrant fouls Caitlin Clark had against her.)

And A’ja Wilson, arguably the best scorer in the world, barely touches the free-throw line while getting triple-teamed like she’s in a WWE handicap match.

This isn’t “playoff physicality.” It’s chaos. And it’s chaos the league created by never making freedom of movement a priority (which needs to change in the big year of 2025).

THE COACHES’ CHORUS & The Star Problem!

This isn’t just salty coaches crying after losses.

It’s three of the sharpest voices in the league all saying the same thing, and they’re not wrong.

Cheryl Reeve, after Collier went down:

“WHEN YOU LET THE PHYSICALITY HAPPEN, PEOPLE GET HURT… ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE SHOT ZERO FREE THROWS.”

Becky Hammon, after her Aces scrapped with Indiana:

“YOU CAN BUMP AND GRAB A WIDE RECEIVER IN THE NFL FOR FIVE YARDS. IN THE W? YOU CAN DO IT FOR THE WHOLE HALF COURT.”

Stephanie White, after watching Boston get wrestled every possession:

“ALIYAH BOSTON IS THE WORST OFFICIATED POST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE.”

Three different series. Three different coaches. Same gripe.

That’s not coincidence, it’s evidence.

And if that wasn’t enough, Natalie Nakase has now joined the referee roast.

After her Valkyries got thumped in Game 1, she basically begged the officials for a “fair fight” like she was cutting a WWE promo. (“We’re playing the best team in the league — they don’t need no help!”)

Translation: Even the expansion coach is ready to Cash App Cheryl Reeve gas money so they can storm the podium together.

When four different coaches across four different series are all screaming about the same thing, you don’t have a whistle problem.

There’s a system problem.

The Solution?

Here’s the kicker: the WNBA isn’t the first league to face this problem.

Hell it’s not even the first basketball league to experience this problem.

The NBA once looked just as ugly, and physical. Hand-checks, clutching, grabbing, and 88–85 rock fights that only purists enjoyed. Fans tuned out, and who blames them?

So about seven years ago, the NBA actually enforced freedom of movement. Not a new rule. Just an old one they decided to take seriously.

Suns coach Monty Williams, who played in the hand-checking ’90s, put it bluntly:

“If you went to the rack, you got laid out. That wasn’t appealing to the fans. So the league figured out a way to create more space on the floor.”

The results? Immediate.

Scoring spiked. Teams jumped from the mid-90s to over 110 points per game.

Stars thrived. Curry, Harden, Kyrie — suddenly their skill had room to breathe.

Fans tuned in. Ratings climbed because the game actually looked fun again.

NBA ref boss Monty McCutchen called it what it was:

“A more free-flowing game… we assisted in providing the flow that makes our game so beautiful.”

In Jordan’s final title year (1998), teams averaged 95.5 points. By 2019, half the league was above 111. That’s not softness. That’s evolution. With the players in the league, it’s only a natural progression.

FROM BIGS TO BUCKETS: WHY THE TIMING IS PERFECT

There has never been a better time for the WNBA to finally embrace freedom of movement.

For most of its history, this has been a bigs league.

Lisa Leslie. Lauren Jackson. Candace Parker. Elena Delle Donne. Sylvia Fowles. A’ja Wilson. The formula was simple: find yourself a dominant big who could survive trench warfare in the paint, and congratulations — you had a decade-long championship window.

It mirrored the old NBA. Wilt, Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq, Russell — no big, no rings.

Sure, there were anomalies. Cynthia Cooper could torch anyone. Diana Taurasi rewrote scoring records. Michael Jordan existed. But overall, size ruled. Then freedom of movement flipped the script in the NBA. The three-pointer became oxygen, Steph Curry and his small-guard buddies turned the league into a track meet, and suddenly the “must-have-a-big” blueprint looked prehistoric.

The WNBA is on the edge of that same shift. Everybody sees it coming.

Caitlin Clark walked into the league and detonated the point guard position. As a rookie she finished fourth in MVP voting, dragged the Fever to the playoffs, broke the single-game assist record, broke the single-season assist record, and landed on First Team All-WNBA. That’s not a learning curve — that’s a speedrun.

Paige Bueckers was just as absurd. As a rookie, she was one of the most efficient guards in the league, dropped 44 points to tie Cynthia Cooper’s rookie scoring record, and also had numbers that screamed “First Team.”

And this is just the appetizer. JuJu Watkins, Azzi Fudd, Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles — a wave of guards with speed, shooting, playmaking, and downhill pressure the WNBA has never fully had all at once.

The old guard of dominant bigs still runs the show, but the next wave is guards — and those guards won’t survive if defenders are allowed to clothesline every cutter and body-check every screen like it’s a hockey penalty kill.

Freedom of movement won’t erase Wilson or Boston. They’ll still eat. But it will unlock the guards coming in behind them — and that’s where the league’s future is headed.

The WNBA has never had more momentum with Clark breaking ratings records. Sellout crowds in Indiana and New York. Expansion in Golden State and Portland.

But momentum dies fast if the playoffs keep looking like Steelers vs. Ravens in sneakers.

Adopting freedom of movement fixes that overnight:

Offense sells. Nobody brags about watching a 76–72 grinder. They brag about buzzer-beaters, 30-point quarters, and stars going nuclear.

Tempo rises. A 40-minute game with real flow forces coaches to play deeper rotations, giving more players spotlight moments.

Stars get protected. Collier, Boston, Clark — these are your ticket-sellers. They can’t sell from the trainer’s table.

FINAL WORD: CALL THE DAMN FOULS

Physicality is fine. Chaos isn’t.

Every coach is saying it: Reeve called it malpractice. Hammon compared it to the NFL. White said her star is officiated like trash. That’s not whining, it’s a group therapy session with microphones.

The WNBA can’t grow if freedom of movement stays a punchline. The NBA figured this out years ago. The WNBA needs to do it now.

Because 110–105 thrillers sell. 84–76 wrestling matches belong on ESPN 8: The Ocho.