Leave it to the WNBA to create a potential gambling scandal of its own making involving two of its most high-profile stars.
The league’s official X account posted — and since deleted — a video of Wings star Paige Bueckers and Dream standout Angel Reese making a friendly wager of apparently $400 during All-Star weekend practice for Wednesday night’s game, the teams’ first since the break where Atlanta nipped Dallas 82-81.
The caption of the video reads: “Paige Bueckers on the bet she made with Angel Reese at All-Star Weekend on tonight’s matchup.”
The video, which was saved and reposted by social media sleuths, shows Reese holding a couple of hundred-dollar bills as they appear to agree to the wager. It’s spliced in with someone behind the camera reminding an awkwardly smiling Bueckers of the bet on game day.
“At All-Star Weekend, you and Angel made a bet on this game, is that right?” the camera person asks her.
“We did?” Bueckers retorts before the video of the bet begins.
The video could become quite the problem for the WNBA and embattled commissioner Cathy Engelbert during a time of high scrutiny of sports betting by pro and college athletes, though this was more of a friendly wager that might quietly go on among highly paid athletes. The WNBA’s CBA has a gambling clause.
It’s stated in Section 5(c) that: “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.”
Engelbert is unlikely to ban Reese or Bueckers, two of the league’s biggest stars, for this, as their wager would have no effect on them doing anything other than trying to win the game even more. The two even shared a heated exchange in the first quarter when Bueckers started clapping theatrically after she was called for a foul for standing her ground on Reese in the post.
Still, the two, by letter of the law, broke a WNBA rule and could face repercussions, along with whoever posted the video to the league’s account in the first place.
The league will likely not want to look like it endorses gambling on games in any way or for this to become a bigger story than it already is.
