Bulls’ Lonzo Ball offers to pay fine for Sky’s Angel Reese following ejection

Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese received her first ejection from a WNBA game on Tuesday, but one of her NBA counterparts is willing to stand up and take the financial hit for her.

Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball offered to pay whatever fine Reese gets for the two technical fouls she got in the Sky’s 88-75 loss to the New York Liberty on Tuesday.

“Ref that threw out @Reese10Angel is weak btw,” Ball wrote in a social media post. “You know who you are (Keep ya money Angel I got you).”

Reese appreciated the sentiment.

“appreciate you gang!” she wrote back to Ball with a pair of emojis.

Technical fouls come with a standard fine in the WNBA. For each of the first three technical fouls a player receives in a season, they get hit with a $200 fine. The fines climb up to $400 for each technical foul when a player commits their fourth through sixth technical foul of the season. If a player receives a seventh technical foul during the season, they’re hit with an $800 fine plus a one-game suspension.

Tuesday’s technical fouls were the first two Reese received in her career, so she’s in line to receive a $400 fine.

Reese got the technical fouls after she picked up her fifth foul with just over 2:30 left in Tuesday’s game. She turned her head toward official Charles Watson, appearing to say something before waving her hand as she was whistled for the technical fouls in a matter of seconds.

Lead official Maj Forsberg explained to reporters that the technical fouls were called on Reese because she was “disrespectfully addressing” and “waving her hand in dismissal” at Watson.

[Angel Reese on Caitlin Clark: Growth of women’s basketball is because of me, too]

Sky head coach Terese Weatherspoon was out of the loop, though, on why her rookie forward received two technical fouls in Tuesday’s game.

“I tried to get an explanation. I did not,” Weatherspoon said. “I don’t know to this moment what has happened.”

Sky guard Marina Mabrey took some accountability as a team, though, for Reese’s actions that proceeded her ejection on Tuesday.

“She got two techs, she said something to the ref,” Mabrey told reporters. “Whatever he felt like was the correct call is what he made. It’s more about composure for us in our young years in the WNBA. You’ve got to get to know refs and how they respond to things.”

Reese matched her season-high of 13 points, adding 10 rebounds for the second double-double of her WNBA career as the Sky fell short of upsetting the defending East Conference champs for a second time this season.

Tuesday’s defeat followed their 71-70 loss to the Indiana Fever on Saturday, which brewed some controversy following Chennedy Carter’s shoulder check of Caitlin Clark. Carter’s foul, which was called an away-from-the-play foul during Saturday’s game, was upgraded to a flagrant-1 foul on Sunday. Weatherspoon said the foul was “not appropriate” in a statement on Monday.

Reese was also fined in the aftermath of Saturday’s game. She received a $1,000 penalty for failing to make herself available to reporters. She didn’t speak with reporters after Tuesday’s game.

Reese is averaging 10.9 points and nine rebounds per game this season as the Sky have gone 3-5 in the opening weeks of the season.

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