There's no worse time for a miscommunication about team timeouts than the one the New York Liberty faced on Wednesday night against the Atlanta Dream. The Liberty trailed by three with 4.3 seconds remaining in overtime, inbounding the ball under their basket. However, they had a reset timeout, which would have moved the inbounds pass to half-court. For some reason, the Liberty didn't use it, leaving announcers baffled in the moment.
After the game, the reason seemed to come to light when Liberty star Breanna Stewart said she asked both officials if they had a reset timeout before their final possession. USA Today's Meghan Hall also confirmed that Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco said he was told the team did not have a timeout.
Breanna Stewart
on the final possession: "This is not blaming the refs, but when I ask both refs if we have a reset timeout at the end, and they tell us no... it's pretty frustrating" pic.twitter.com/wHvsMeafGE
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) October 8, 2026
However, officials disputed this (sort of), with a statement given after the game, as The Athletic's Annie Costabile revealed:
"Stewart was standing behind referee Fahey when he confirmed with his partner between Reese's penalty FTs that the Liberty did indeed have a reset TO remaining," officials said.
Now, this is where things take an interesting turn, as Costabile reveals that when officials were asked whether Stewart was told the Liberty had a timeout, the official repeated the same statement. However, that's not where the issue ends, because, as Costabile highlighted following the game, Stewart was told the Liberty did not have a timeout after Angel Reese's free throws.
Breanna Stewart was told by an official that the Liberty had no reset timeout after Angel Reese's free throws. https://t.co/h9HKXhux84
— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) October 8, 2026
The officials' response doesn't clarify the situation as a whole. Instead, it makes it sound as though the refs discussed the timeout while Stewart was nearby, but no one openly addressed what she was told after Reese's free throws.
Together, these two points create a tremendous amount of confusion about the situation. The officials' decision to double down on their initial comment, rather than respond to whether Stewart was told they had a timeout when asked, leaves the entire controversy unanswered.
Not surprisingly, the Liberty are clearly and understandably not satisfied with the officials' postgame remarks, and as ESPN's Alexa Philippou reported, they have made an official inquiry to the league about the situation.
There's obviously nothing that can be done about how Game 2 of the series between the Liberty and Dream played out, but several questions remain about the late-game controversy. Whether we'll get those answers or not is the real question now.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: WNBA refs' response to Breanna Stewart timeout drama creates way more confusion
