The shot that took out A’ja Wilson didn’t just rattle her skull—it shook the soul of the Las Vegas Aces. Missing their heartbeat for a second straight game, the Aces looked lost, then labored, and ultimately let a winnable one slip against the Phoenix Mercury, 76-70. But it was what happened after the final whistle that stole the headlines.
Becky Hammon stepped up to the mic and let it rip.
In a 30-second no-filter monologue that felt more like a courtroom closing argument than a typical presser soundbite, the Aces head coach lit into the WNBA’s flagrant foul policy—and didn’t just stop at Wilson’s injury.
“However, there are some vicious ones that, you know—I know specifically just a couple years ago, I thought A’ja took a huge shot and I thought it should have been a flagrant two, automatic ejection,” Hammon seethed. “A wind-up elbow or anything like that—because basically what’s a flagrant two? It feels like the only way you get a flagrant two is to throw a punch and land one.”
This wasn’t your everyday coach defending a star. This was a veteran of the league saying enough is enough. A’ja Wilson’s concussion wasn’t an isolated incident—it was just the latest episode in a disturbing trend of head injuries that’s sweeping the W. The list reads like an All-Star ballot gone wrong: Paige Bueckers, Rickea Jackson, Tiffany Hayes, Shakira Austin, Jewell Loyd. Different teams, same story.
Hammon made it personal and universal in the same breath: “Other than that, it’s just a flagrant one where I feel like some of these are dangerous plays and have to be looked at. I think—you know—my team’s going through it, but other teams—I mean—have had concussions.”
And that’s what makes this sting even more.
The Aces, already missing their MVP, watched the game slide through their fingers. Chelsea Gray came to play with a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, and the supporting cast tried to rally. Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd chipped in 15 and 17 respectively, but their 22 turnovers were a gift Phoenix gratefully accepted—and capitalized on for 22 backbreaking points.
Meanwhile, Mercury’s Sami Whitcomb drained dagger threes like it was clockwork, and Alyssa Thomas dropped 13 assists like breadcrumbs through the Vegas defense. Without Wilson’s presence and poise, the Aces were caught in a loop of mistakes they couldn’t erase.
Yet the box score wasn’t the real story. It was the absence.
The absence of accountability for flagrant fouls. The absence of Wilson in the paint. The absence of action from a league that is growing, glowing, but still lagging in player protection.
From A’ja Wilson to Aliyah Boston: When Stars Get Hit and the Whistle Stays Quiet
And Becky Hammon’s mic wasn’t the only one catching fire.
Rachel DeMita, never one to mince words, also lit up the officiating inconsistencies with precision earlier this season:
“The problem that a lot of us have with the referees is it’s either very physical and they are calling everything or they’re missing calls. There seems to be inconsistencies in how the referees are calling certain games.”
That inconsistency is what eats away at trust, not just from coaches and players, but from fans who see the hits and feel the silence.
Take Brittney Griner for example. A legend. A force. But also, a repeat offender this season when it comes to uncalled physicality.
On May 30 (2024) , Griner was hit with a technical for a hostile shove on Aliyah Boston. No escalation. Just another shrug from the officiating crew.
Fast forward to June 12, in a high-stakes showdown between the Dream and the Fever, and Griner blatantly extended an elbow into Boston’s throat. It drew only a common foul. No review. No upgrade. Just disbelief.
“How t— is an elbow to the throat not a Flagrant foul?” asked one furious fan on X.
And just a month prior, May 7, preseason, Griner set a hard screen on rookie Sonia Citron so brutal it could’ve doubled as a linebacker blitz. Citron hit the floor hard. That was the only fair flagrant-2 foul called on her.
“Sonia Citron never knew what hit her,” echoed commentators watching the replay frame by frame.
And then there’s the Caitlin Clark–Angel Reese moment from Opening Night. Clark’s hard foul on Reese was upgraded to a Flagrant-1, but fans and analysts were split on whether it even deserved to be a flagrant-1, considering Reese had just shoved Boston before being shoved by Clark.
What we’re seeing isn’t just tough basketball. It’s a pattern: elbows to the head, screens that rattle rookies, forearms to the throat. And time and again, the calls don’t match the impact.
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