Indiana Fever point guard Caitlin Clark became the first WNBA player to record a 40-point, 10-assist game Friday, defeating the Seattle Storm at home in Indianapolis. The performance came weeks after Clark was thrown to the floor and struck in the throat by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas during another home game, with no foul called at the time.
The WNBA upgraded the Thomas incident to a Flagrant 2 violation a full day later, suspending Thomas for one game and issuing a fine. Reports suggest it was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who persuaded WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to issue the suspension.
Fever head coach Stephanie White called the pattern of physical play against Clark “egregious” and “unacceptable” following the June Mercury game. In late June, Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham said that other players are “definitely targeting” Clark. Clark has also been hip-checked and poked in the eye in separate incidents, according to opinion writer Jennifer Sey.
Sey, the 1986 Women’s National Gymnastics Champion and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, made those claims in an opinion piece arguing Engelbert has failed to adequately protect Clark. Sey wrote that Clark, who went pro in 2024, has driven what many have called the “Caitlin Clark effect,” bringing record ratings, sold-out arenas, new sponsors and new fans to women’s basketball.
Before Clark, the WNBA averaged roughly 300,000 viewers per game. Games featuring Clark now regularly top one million, Sey wrote. The league has never been profitable and is subsidized by the NBA, and Sey argued this should be its moment to reach profitability. She contended that rather than capitalizing on the growth Clark delivers, the league appears intent on dimming her spotlight.
Engelbert has publicly called Clark a “transformational player,” but Sey argued that description has not been backed by decisive action on player safety. She wrote that the commissioner has a fiduciary responsibility to grow the league and protect its star, and that appeasing players who resent Clark’s prominence at the expense of the bottom line violates that duty.
On July 8, a group of 11 Republican lawmakers led by Rep. August Pfluger of Texas sent a letter to Engelbert citing repeated acts of “unnecessary physical hostility and violence” against Clark. They warned of potential Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations over what they described as a hostile work environment.
Sey, who said she was the first gymnast to speak out against the abuse committed by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, drew a parallel between the two institutions. Nassar was convicted in 2017 of sexually abusing hundreds of young women over more than two decades. She argued that USA Gymnastics’ failure to self-police led to congressional intervention, and that the WNBA risks a similar outcome.
Sey produced the Emmy-award winning documentary Athlete A and detailed Nassar’s crimes in her book “Chalked Up.” She wrote that more political involvement would turn Clark into a cultural flashpoint rather than allowing her to play basketball and win, and called on Engelbert to lead decisively so outside forces do not have to.