The WNBA is facing a ton of backlash this Thursday for the way it handled last night's scuffle between the Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury.
Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas was caught shoving her fist into Fever star Caitlin Clark's throat in the second quarter. There was also a reckless closeout that occurred in the second half. Unfortunately, the former No. 1 pick from Iowa left Wednesday's game early due to a back injury.
Fever coach Stephanie White put Wednesday's refs on blast during her postgame press conference.
“We have a generational talent and WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots [against her] right there that weren’t called,” White said. “Absolutely unacceptable.”
White also called out the WNBA's officiating for refusing to give Clark the same whistle that other star players get.
“Absolutely disrespectful. We spent all offseason looking at officiating, and I still say the one thing that we keep asking for is consistency,” White continued. “[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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Time to leave the WNBA?
During Wednesday night's episode of "Speakeasy," former NFL running back LeSean McCoy ripped the WNBA for mistreating Clark.
According to McCoy, the WNBA is going to dissolve if it struggles to take care of its most marketable player.
"If Caitlin Clark keeps getting fouled like this, there won't be a WNBA," McCoy said. "If I'm Caitlin Clark, I'm done, man. I'll take myself somewhere else. If Caitlin Clark said today, 'I'm done with the WNBA,' where would the WNBA be? It'd be over."
McCoy then brought up how Michael Jordan eventually received preferential treatment from the NBA. He believes the WNBA needs to protect Clark moving forward.
