"What a sore loser": Fans erupt as Rhyne Howard amplifies Unrivaled 'rigged' claims after controversial 1-on-1 loss

Rhyne Howard let her frustration be known on social media after her loss in the Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament. The competition, featuring the league's best players in a single-elimination bracket. The event has been well-received by players and fans, but Howard added fuel to rumors from fans claiming that the tournament is rigged.

Rhyne Howard's loss was one of the bigger surprises of the tournament, although not as crazy as defending WNBA Champion Breanna Stewart being shut out by Aaliyah Edwards 12-0 in the first round. Regardless of some of the fan reactions to the play so far, the Unrivaled league has been a wild success, promoting women's basketball and keeping it in the spotlight despite the WNBA offseason.

Rhyne Howard, a star for the Atlanta Dream, represented Vinyl BC in the tournament. Howard lost to Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams 11-9 in the second round after defeating Lexie Hull in the opening round. After being eliminated, Howard took to social media to express her displeasure with the officiating of the game, reposting multiple tweets that called the game rigged.

Rhyne Howard went on to repost other tweets echoing the same sentiment, leading fans to react in two distinct ways; either agreeing with her or calling her out for being a sore loser.

"what a sore loser then instead of just coming out and saying what you wanna say you reposting tweets didnt know rhyne was like this 😂 "one fan commented.

"When a player is reposting this, it’s not a good look for either player or league," another said.

"Well there’s $200k on the line, of course this s*** is serious for them. They expect to show up as equal competitors," said another fan.

Other fans took to Howard's defense, saying:

"I don’t blame Rhyne for complaining. Bad calls happen, $200,000 is a lot of money," one fan said, defending Howard.

"Nah cause Phee phouls every ****ing possession," another fan commented.

One fan took it upon themselves to call out the WNBA as a whole, saying:

"This is why the W has lost money for 28 years. They are each other‘s worst enemies. They got something that’s putting money in their pockets, exposure and somehow they want to burn it to the ground cause of jealousy," one fan said.

Will Rhyne Howard's response deter the NBA from implementing a similar tournament?

The popularity of Unrivaled's 1-on-1 tournament has led many to speculate on whether or not the NBA will do something similar at their All-Star weekend. The idea has gained some traction, but Rhyne Howard's response to her upset loss brings to light a harsh reality that putting a tournament like this one together exposes the NBA to.