The WNBA has suspended Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas after she hit Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark in the throat with her fist during a game.
The play occurred in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s 111-109 road win by Phoenix. Clark was driving into the lane and fell on her side after contact. Thomas. Mercury forwards DeWanna Bonner dove for the ball, and in the jostle Thomas appeared to knee Clark in the groin. Her closed fist made contact with Clark’s throat as she fell. Clark managed to complete a pass to teammate Aliyah Boston as Thomas got up and stepped over her.
The game officials did not call a foul in the moment, to the anger of Fever coach Stephanie White. She used her postgame news conference to blast the officials for allowing “cheap shots” at Clark to occur without penalty. argued that the lack of calls continued a pattern of the third-year guard being officiated differently from other players.
“We have a generational talent. a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called,” White said. “And I just say, again, [it’s] absolutely unacceptable.”
The WNBA on Thursday gave Thomas a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty. The league is allowed to review a game to reclassify flagrant fouls or classify a no-call as a flagrant foul after the fact.
Less than a minute after that no-call, Mercury forward Valeriane Ayayi fouled Clark as she was taking a three-pointer. Clark landed on Ayayi’s foot as she came down from her jump; White argued that it should have been elevated to a flagrant foul for restricting Clark’s space to land,. after a review the officials elected to keep it as a common foul.
“No 1, you gotta call it. It’s absolutely egregious and utterly disrespectful,” White said. “And then No 2, you’re coming in here aware of what happened two nights ago, and that shit still happens? Absolutely unacceptable.”
White was referencing the Fever. Mercury’s matchup on Monday night, when the Fever won 86-77 in a game that had six technical fouls – including ones given to Clark and Thomas – and one ejection.
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Clark had 19 points before she left the game in the third quarter with a back injury. White did not imply. the back issues were related to the no-calls; Clark sat out a game last month with the same injury designation.
After missing the majority of last season with groin. ankle injuries, the 2024 Rookie of the Year is averaging 21.2 points and 8.2 assists this season. The Fever, who entered the season as title contenders, have struggled with consistency: they lead the WNBA in offensive scoring (92.1 points per game) but are third-worst in defense (88.9). have given up 100 points in seven of their 18 games.
The league has retroactively upgraded fouls against Clark that were called in-game. Last season. Marina Mabrey (then with Connecticut) was whistled for a technical on Clark; the league later upgraded it to a Flagrant 2. The NBA has had several instances where it upgraded a play that resulted in a suspension.
Thomas, who had 24 points. eight rebounds on Wednesday, will serve her suspension on Saturday when the Mercury visit the Toronto Tempo.
WNBA officiating has been under the spotlight this season. After outcry over physicality. inconsistency in referee decisions last year, a league taskforce was assembled – an effort spearheaded by a group of coaches, including White. Officials have been instructed this season to practice consistent enforcement of the existing league rules. especially as they pertain to freedom of movement; as a result, there was a sharp uptick in foul calls in the start to this season.
“We spent all offseason looking at officiating,. I still say the one thing that we keep asking for is consistency,” White said. “[Clark] is not called the same way as everybody else is called. The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous.. When you have these things continue to happen time and time and time again, eventually it gets frustrating.”
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