As it turns out, Caitlin Clark won’t be suspended—at least not yet.
Shortly after the Indiana Fever’s 90-86 victory over the Chicago Sky on Saturday, the WNBA announced it was rescinding the technical foul that was called on Clark during the game. Had it stood, the technical foul would have marked the third-year guard’s eighth of the season, triggering an automatic one-game suspension.
The foul in question came during the third quarter of the contest when Clark made contact with an official after dribbling down the baseline while being defended by Sky guard Natasha Cloud. Crew chief Maj Forsberg told a pool reporter that the former Iowa star was assessed the technical foul because she “intentionally made contact” with an official and that the league would determine whether any additional penalty would be handed out.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Clark denied that the contact was intentional. Fever coach Stephanie White was also assessed a technical foul, which she said was the result of the language she used while arguing the call.
“My tech was for saying, ‘that’s bullshit,’ even though I heard the F-bomb the whole fucking game,” White said. “That’s a bad call. Incidental contact when you’re flying out of control—and I thought her teammates should have come up to her and talked to her about that as well. I think that’s really bad. That shit happens all the time in a game. Officials have to have some awareness in those moments, and it didn’t happen.”
White confirmed that the team planned to appeal Clark’s technical foul, which was ultimately successful.
In addition to a one-game suspension, Clark would have received a $1,500 fine had her eighth technical foul of the season stood. Sitting at fourth in the WNBA standings with a 20-12 record, the Fever will return to action Tuesday when they host the New York Liberty.
Another Scuffle
Clark’s technical foul wasn’t the only controversial play in Saturday’s game.
Late in the first quarter, Sky guard DiJonai Carrington hit Sophie Cunningham with a hard foul as the Fever guard attempted a layup. Carrington was ultimately assessed a flagrant 2 and ejected from the game following a review of the foul.
Taking to social media following her ejection, Carrington—who is Black—posted a message reading “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever” to her Threads account. Meanwhile, Cunningham claimed that Carrington committed the hard foul on her because she “wants attention,” according to ESPN.
During her postgame press conference, White told reporters that she believed that giving Carrington a flagrant 2 was the correct call. The Fever coach also added that she didn’t believe the contact to Cunningham’s neck was intentional, while crediting Carrington for her physicality.
“One of the things about Nay is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man,” White said. “She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don’t oppose the hard foul. But I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
