Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas has been suspended one game for a flagrant foul she committed on the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, the league announced Thursday.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.In the second quarter of the Mercury’s 111-109 win over the Fever on Wednesday, Thomas drove her hand into Clark’s neck during a loose ball.She was not called for a foul during the play.The league on Thursday assessed Thomas a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty and handed her the single-game suspension for “recklessly making contact with her first to the throat area” of Clark, who came out of the game in the second half due to a back injury.After the loss, Indiana head coach Stephanie White blasted the league for not protecting Clark.“We have a generational talent and WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called.
Absolutely unacceptable,” White said.“We spent all offseason looking at officiating, and I still say the one thing that we keep asking for is consistency.[Clark] is not called the same way as everybody else is called.
The fist in the throat is crazy.It’s crazy.”This is not the first instance in which the league upgraded a play involving Clark to a flagrant foul.
During Clark’s rookie season, then-Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter had a foul upgraded to a flagrant after she checked Clark with her shoulder.Clark’s supporters have decried what they consider overly physical play since she entered the WNBA in 2024.“I think at this point I know I’m going to take a couple of hard shots a game and that’s what it is,” Clark said during her rookie season.
“I’m trying not to let it bother me.”Now in her third year, Clark is averaging a career-best 21.2 points per game for the Fever.She is also averaging 8.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds.
After an injury-plagued sophomore campaign, Clark has appeared in 17 of Indiana’s 18 games so far.The Fever...