The WNBA agreed with the Indiana Fever that Caitlin Clark was on the wrong end of a bad missed call on Wednesday.
The league announced Thursday that Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas would be suspended one game and assessed a flagrant 2 foul for striking Clark in the throat during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, In. The league said Thomas “recklessly (made) contact with her fist to the throat area” of Clark, which was deemed a non-basketball act.
Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas Receives Flagrant Foul 2 Penalty and a One-Game Suspension pic.twitter.com/VnDF8M3SXQ
— WNBA Communications (@WNBAComms) June 25, 2026
Somehow, no foul was called on the play during the game (video here). That only furthered the notion that Clark gets a raw deal from the league and its officials, and the Fever were furious both during and after the game over the no-call.
As is the case in the NBA, the WNBA can go back and look at incidents that were not punished during a game and retroactively assess a flagrant foul and a suspension. That is what the league did here, though it came too late for Indiana’s liking.
Indeed, there has even been a perception that the league is needlessly harsh on Clark, as evidenced by her technical foul troubles. They had no choice but to step in and punish Thomas in this instance.
