LAS VEGAS -- Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve was fined $15,000 for her comments and conduct Friday evening, lambasting the officiating in her team's Game 3 semifinals loss to the Phoenix Mercury, a league source confirmed to ESPN on Monday.
Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White and Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon were also fined $1,000 apiece for their recent public criticism of WNBA officiating, the source added.
White told reporters at Fever practice Monday that she "got fined for supporting Cheryl, which I think is crazy."
In the final minute of Friday's Game 3 between Phoenix and Minnesota, Reeve had to be restrained from confronting the officials after no foul was called when the Mercury's Alyssa Thomas stripped the ball from Lynx star Napheesa Collier, and leg-to-leg contact resulted in Collier injuring her ankle.
Reeve was ultimately ejected, and later in the postgame news conference, she called it "f---ing malpractice" that the game's officiating crew was assigned to work the semifinals. The longtime Lynx coach added that "this [unchecked physicality] is the look that our league wants, for some reason" and called for "a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating."
Reeve was suspended for Minnesota's next game, and Collier was ruled out because of an ankle injury. Without star player and coach, the No. 1 seed Lynx were eliminated from the playoffs after an 86-81 Game 4 loss to the Mercury.
Reeve, who has led the Lynx to four WNBA titles, was suspended not just for her postgame comments, the league said in a release Saturday, but also for "aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection with 21.8 seconds to play in the fourth quarter [and] inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court."
Hammon and White, whose teams are facing off in the other semifinal, were asked Sunday before their teams' Game 4 showdown about Reeve's comments.
The coaches, both former WNBA players, backed up Reeve's criticism and have been outspoken throughout the season, including Sunday, about what they view as a leaguewide officiating problem.
"From what I heard, she did not tell a lie. She said the truth," Hammon said Sunday about Reeve. "I think something has to change.
"When players are in vulnerable positions, such as jumping or running full speed, I think you have to protect them. You have to protect your product. If that was LeBron James, or that was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or somebody like that, they would protect some of those players."
White added that Reeve "made a lot of valid points ... I think at some point, there has to be some accountability."
"Every part of our league has gotten better, and that part has lagged behind, for whatever reason," White said. "Oftentimes, it's infrastructure in terms of training, oftentimes, it's financial. And it's really investing in who we have as officials, and sometimes, it's manpower. Who's coming into the program? How do we get them to stick around? How do we keep them growing and getting better? Do we have more resources to support them? Do we have more resources to help, whether it's something like a replay center? And those are conversations that continue to be ongoing."
Officiating was also a topic after Game 4 of the Fever-Aces series Sunday, when Las Vegas pointed out that Indiana took 34 free throws compared with its 11 in a Fever win. When Aces star A'ja Wilson pointed out it was "interesting" that four of her teammates had four or five fouls, Hammon responded: "By interesting, you mean that's s---?"
"I did appreciate it was a little tighter call," Hammon said. "But tighter on both ends would have been nice."
Added White at practice Monday: "There's nothing that we want more than just consistency."
The Athletic was the first to report fine amounts for Reeve, White and Hammon.
ESPN's Michael Voepel contributed to this report.