The Indiana Fever are currently 20-12 in the WNBA and have put together a strong run this season. However, their recent game against the Chicago Sky brought another controversy involving Caitlin Clark and the league’s officiating.
Clark was handed a technical foul after accidentally making contact with a referee, and the decision quickly became a talking point among WNBA analysts.
Analysts Sound Off on WNBA Officiating Over Caitlin Clark’s Technical Foul
Analyst Brandon Walker discussed the incident involving Clark from the Fever’s recent game against the Sky and described it as the “single worst call in the history of basketball.”
“Can we talk about the Caitlin Clark play where she gets bumped into? She gets off balance, and she goes in the referee. The referee takes a good two seconds and says, you know what, I am gonna hit a technical foul.”
“WNBA has since rescinded this. It would be her eighth technical foul, and she would have missed the next game. Dave, what I think, what I see right there on the screen is the single worst call in the history of basketball. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Walker said on “Wake Up Barstool.”
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who was co-hosting the show, also appeared to agree with Walker’s view of the incident.
“Yeah, it’s brutal. And you know what’s funny? They have now and again people are digging up the old clips of that ref actually getting like pushed and bodied and not calling up, and someone on the network was like, ‘I don’t know maybe it was the right call,’ cause I saw someone bump into a coach one time. It’s crazy. That call was insane. They did rescind it, which is actually shocking,” Portnoy added.
The controversy happened during the third quarter at the United Center. Clark drove toward the basket after getting past Chicago’s Natasha Cloud. During the drive, Cloud made contact with Clark, which caused the Fever guard to lose her footing.
Clark then stumbled toward the sideline and ended up running directly into an official who was standing near the baseline. The referee viewed the contact as a technical foul. Under WNBA rules, contact between a player and an official can result in an automatic technical foul.
Reaching eight technical fouls during the regular season results in an automatic one-game suspension under WNBA rules. That meant Clark was initially facing a suspension, even though the contact with the referee appeared to occur as she was losing her balance.
However, the situation did not last long, as the WNBA reviewed the play after the game and rescinded Clark’s technical foul, determining that her contact with the official was unintentional.
Clark herself seemed confident that the league would take another look at the play. During an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the game, she explained that she had already seen the replay and believed the contact was accidental.
“The referee said I ran into her. I’ve already watched it on the tape. So, we’ll let the league decide, but it wasn’t intentional or anything. So, I’m hoping it’s getting rescinded,” Clark said.
The 24-year-old finished the game with 26 points and 11 assists as Indiana held on for a 90-86 victory over Chicago. The Fever will now get ready for their next matchup against the New York Liberty on Tuesday.
