Kelsey Plum Rips WNBA Officiating in NSFW Rant

Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum is averaging 21.8 points per game during the 2025 season.
Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum is averaging 21.8 points per game during the 2025 season. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Kelsey Plum was finally fed up with WNBA officials.

On Monday night, after the Los Angeles Sparks lost to the Golden State Valkyries in overtime, Plum was furious. She entered her postgame media availability and blasted the league's referees in a minute-long, expletive-laden rant.

Her full statement is below:

"I also know, like, and I'm going to get fined for saying this, but, like, I drive more than anyone in the league. So, to shoot six free throws is f---ing absurd. I got scratches on my face, I got scratches on my body, and these guards on the other team get these ticky-tack fouls, and I'm sick of it. I get fouled like that on every possession. Rickea (Jackson) gets fouled like that in the post all the time, and they don't call it. I don't know what else to do. It's really frustrating, though.

"There are multiple shots at the end of the game, either going into the third, into the fourth, where they're just coming out and just f---ing swinging, and they just don't call anything. I don't understand how that's... six free throws. I'm playing 40 minutes, touching the paint on almost every play. It's absurd. It's absurd. So I'm saying I'll get fined for that, and that's fine, but I mean, and I needed to make more shots like late-game, but they're fouling the s--- out of me every single play. I'm very frustrated with that, and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it. I don't know what I need to do. I've talked to the refs nice, I pray before the game, like, f---, I'm over it."

Video of her comments is below.

Plum is in her first season with the Sparks after arriving from the Las Vegas Aces via trade in the offseason. L.A. is 3-7 to start the 2025 campaign, but Plum has held up her end. The three-time All-Star is averaging 21.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.9 steals per game.

Her numbers would likely be even better if she could get a few more fouls called.


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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.