Sky suspend Reese after eighth technical foul as roster turmoil looms

Angel Reese, the Chicago Sky’s All Star forward, was suspended by the WNBA for one game this week after accruing her eighth technical foul of the season and was later penalized by her own club for public remarks about the franchise that teammates found damaging. The sequence of discipline has left the Sky short-handed late in a losing campaign and intensified questions about the team’s direction and Reese’s future in Chicago.

The league announced the automatic one-game ban after Reese was assessed a technical foul in the second quarter of a win over the Connecticut Sun for contact that knocked Sun forward Aaliyah Edwards to the floor. Under WNBA rules, a player who reaches eight technicals is subject to an automatic one-game suspension. The officiating crew characterized the play as a nonbasketball act that warranted an unsportsmanlike technical, the crew chief said after the game. The Sky appealed the call but the technical stood and Reese missed the subsequent game against the Indiana Fever.

Chicago then issued an internal punishment, announcing that Reese would not play the first half of a later game against the Las Vegas Aces for statements it described as detrimental to the...