Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas received a one-game suspension after the WNBA reviewed her contact with Caitlin Clark during the Mercury’s 111-109 win over the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The league announced Thursday that Thomas was punished for “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area” of Clark, a ruling that arrived only after the game had already been allowed to unfold without a foul call. The WNBA said Thomas’ action was deemed a non-basketball act.
Who Gets Judged After the Fact
The play happened with 6:52 remaining in the second quarter, when Clark drove toward the basket and went to the floor as multiple players fought for the ball. During the scramble, Thomas appeared to drive her fist into Clark’s neck and throat area. No foul was called on the play during the game, leaving the officials’ first response as silence and the league’s later response as discipline from above.
The WNBA said its office has the ability, after reviewing any game, to reclassify a flagrant foul or classify any foul not called as a flagrant during a game, and it can also impose a fine or suspension. Thomas had received a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty. She will serve the suspension June 27, when the Mercury visit the Toronto Tempo. The machinery of review stepped in only after the fact, turning a live collision into a paperwork verdict.
What the Officials Saw, and Didn’t
The ruling came after Fever coach Stephanie White criticized the officiating following the loss. White said, “We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called.” She called the no-call on Thomas “absolutely egregious and utterly disrespectful.” White also criticized a separate play in which Clark landed awkwardly after being fouled by Valeriane Ayayi on a 3-point attempt.
Officials reviewed that play but did not upgrade it to a flagrant foul. Clark grabbed at her back afterward and later left the game and did not return. She finished with 19 points and eight assists in 20 minutes before exiting. The sequence left Clark taking the hits, the officials making the calls, and the league deciding later what counted as acceptable contact.
The League’s After-Game Order
The Thomas suspension did not change the result, and Phoenix still won 111-109. That score remained on the books while the league’s disciplinary office asserted its authority over the incident after the game was over. The WNBA’s announcement framed the contact as beyond the bounds of the sport, but only after the play had already been absorbed by the players on the floor and the crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Clark is the WNBA’s biggest draw, and the conversation around how she is officiated is continuing. In the meantime, the league’s power to review, reclassify, and suspend stands as the final word on a moment that officials on the court did not stop when it happened.