The WNBA deleted a social media video on Thursday after posting a clip that showed Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers appearing to joke about a $400 wager before Wednesday night’s game between the Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings. The league said the post missed the mark and said it would address the matter internally.
The clip, which was quickly captured by users on X before it disappeared, was built around a friendly back-and-forth that sounded like a bet on the outcome of the game. Reese said, “Imma see y’all on Wednesday,” then added, “If y’all win, you get the 400,” while Bueckers replied, “I get to have that” and later, “If we lose, then you get to keep it.” The WNBA later said the post was meant to be lighthearted, but it also reminded players that betting on WNBA games is prohibited and that yearly training reinforces that rule.
That is why the post drew attention so fast. Reese and Bueckers had just shared the floor in the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday for Team Coop, and the league itself used that familiarity in the Wednesday post, asking Bueckers to recall the wager she had made with Reese at All-Star weekend. Bueckers first responded, “We did?” then, “At night?” Before the exchange was clarified as something that happened during practice, she said, “Bet, I’m standing on that.” The video was published with the caption, “Paige Bueckers on the bet she made with Angel Reese at All-Star weekend on tonight’s matchup.”
The friction came after the joke, not before it. The WNBA said the post was lighthearted, but that even jokes about wagering on WNBA games can have negative consequences. That left the league trying to square a playful social media moment with a policy it says players already know well, one it reinforces every year and one it said had to be reemphasized with the players involved. The timing made the mistake harder to ignore: the post went up before the game, disappeared soon after, and was then followed by Reese’s 22 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals in an 82-81 Dream win.
Reese added to the moment after the final buzzer, saying, “Yeah, I’ll be requesting my Apple Pay after this.” She also said, “Paige is a great player. To hold her to 16 points, it’s tough.” The league has already moved the conversation behind the scenes, but the larger question is whether a social media team can lean on a betting gag for engagement without colliding with the rules it is supposed to enforce.
