Caitlin Clark and Alyssa Thomas got into an altercation when the Indiana Fever met the Phoenix Mercury on June 24. While fighting for the ball, Clark fell, and Thomas followed. In Mercury’s star’s bad landing, she caught Clark with her fist on her neck and her knee on her groin. There has been a lot of discourse about the severity of Thomas’ action.
On June 27, the WNBA legend Lisa Leslie appeared on the ‘We Need to Talk’ basketball talk show. She talked about the inconsistency with the WNBA’s officiating. She claimed that while refereeing is a difficult job, the league still must do better with one of its best players as well as in general. The Fans were divided, and not everyone agreed with her.
After the incident, Caitlin Clark was unavailable for Fever’s next game, which they won vs the Sparks. Alyssa Thomas’ action was deemed a reckless and non-basketball act. For this, she received a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty and a one-game suspension.
Lisa Leslie makes her feelings clear about Caitlin Clark’s officiating
The three WNBA legends Lisa Leslie, Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery talked about the incident and the events after that.
“Officiating is tough. I don’t know if anybody’s ever even tried to officiate. It’s not the easiest game. It’s one of the most thankless jobs you can do. But in this particular situation, I thought that the last official should have been able to catch that. I was actually watching this game and I was like, “Oh, wow. That was a bit much.” So, in that moment, I thought that the official missed the call,” Leslie stated (1:52).“I’m not surprised that the league went back and find Alyssa Thomas, but I think at the same time it’s tough to think that official would have missed that, that they didn’t have a replay on it. That was tough to me. And I think overall, the league’s got to do better. The officials have got to do better, but also players. Players have to clean it up. We used to play in a way that you protected one another. Yeah, I want to play physical. I want to play hard, but I’m not out here trying to hurt you,” she added.
Leslie also gave the example of her playing days that if she were to challenge Renee Montgomery and accidentally punched her, she would at least help her back up. She made the point that if Thomas had at least helped Clark or even acknowledged the contact apologetically, this incident would have been seen in a different light.
Read more:
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in the NBA, WNBA college football, men’s college basketball, women’s college basketball, and college baseball!
