It’s not just the recent jab to her throat by Alyssa Thomas that Caitlin Clark thinks was a flagrant foul.
An admittedly frustrated Clark also thinks that the way the media and fans harp on every minuscule thing about her and the Fever is getting to be too much, even though she tries to avoid reading social-media and news headlines.
“I don’t remember who wrote this … and it was like, the headline read like, ‘This season has been everything but fun and just full of frustration for Clark and the Fever,’” Clark told reporters at Friday’s shootaround during a 1,300-word opening statement.
“And I’m like, no one ever asked me that. Like, that’s wrong. Like, discuss my play, discuss if I played bad, discuss if I played good, discuss our play. And at times I understand there’s other things that need to be talked about, great, whatever, but let’s continue to move on.”
First, let’s look back.
Clark was interviewed for the first time since she was hit in the throat by the Mercury’s Thomas as they hit the floor for a loose ball.
A flagrant foul wasn’t called during the game, but Thomas was suspended for one game after replay review.
“I did think it was a flagrant foul and our refereeing just needs to be better,” Clark said. “And, you know, it’s tough. Obviously, the refs are in a really difficult spot. … I think for us, as the league, we’ve just got to do better protecting our players, in that regard. I don’t really think that it was up for debate. Obviously, it wasn’t called in real-time. You go back and watch the clip, I think it’s pretty straightforward, and it’s kind of been a discussion for like three years now, and I think we really need to do a better job protecting the people in this league.”
Clark’s suggestion is for the WNBA to invest in better technology and to pay referees “like they’re full-time employees.”
“As I’ve stood up here and said before, like, the harassment, the hate — none of that is okay,” Clark said. “That goes for the opposing team we play, that goes for my teammates, that goes for my coaches. There should never be a question of character.”
There is seemingly endless debate on whether WNBA players are targeting Clark to send a message to the league’s most popular player from the moment that she was drafted No. 1 overall in 2024.
But she said there are other examples across the league of flagrant fouls that do not get called, and mea culpas after the fact don’t change much.
“I think a lot of people sometimes think I’m a robot,” Clark said. “I’m not a robot. I have emotions, I have feelings, and it can be really difficult to go through a lot of that. And I’m 24 years old trying to navigate a lot. I’ve been in this world for four years now and you would never change any of it, but there are times that it is hard and there are times that it probably affects me a little bit more than I do put on. I would never change any of that for the world, but I think it’s important that people do remember that part of it, too.”
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