Angel Reese avoids automatic suspension after technical foul quickly rescinded

The Atlanta Dream’s worries about not having Angel Reese for a showdown with the first-place Minnesota Lynx on Sunday were short-lived.

The league quickly rescinded a technical foul that Reese picked up Friday night against the Portland Fire, which would have been her eighth of the season and resulted in an automatic suspension. The Dream immediately appealed the technical from the 101-83 loss to the Portland Fire, and the league office said the call was overturned within three hours of the game ending.

The sequence of events was similar to earlier this season when an eighth technical foul on Caitlin Clark was quickly rescinded after the game following an appeal by the Indiana Fever.

Reese’s technical foul was whistled with 8:45 remaining in the fourth quarter as she briefly got tangled up with Portland guard Carla Leite on a standard boxout. Reese and her teammates appeared surprised by the call. The Atlanta All-Star walked away from the call saying, “I didn’t do anything.”

Reese is trying to avoid a second consecutive season of accumulating eight technicals. Last year, she served a suspension in Game 41 for the Chicago Sky. Atlanta’s next game is its 40th of this season.

Unlike in 2025, Reese’s team is in the postseason picture this year. However, the Dream fell to fifth in the WNBA standings with Friday’s loss to Portland and they face an uphill battle against the Lynx without Brionna Jones, who was already ruled out of Sunday’s contest with an injury.

Reese and the Dream will soon be on the WNBA’s break for the FIBA World Cup (Aug. 31-Sept. 16), during which she will represent Team USA. Technical tallies do not carry over into the playoffs.

Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper and Clark are also both sitting at seven technical fouls and could face a potential suspension before the end of the 2026 campaign.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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