Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas suspended for hitting Caitlin Clark in the throat

Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas has been suspended one game for a flagrant foul she committed on the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, the league announced Thursday.

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In the second quarter of the Mercury’s 111-109 win over the Fever on Wednesday, Thomas drove her hand into Clark’s neck during a loose ball. She was not called for a foul during the play.

The league on Thursday assessed Thomas a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty and handed her the single-game suspension for “recklessly making contact with her first to the throat area” of Clark, who came out of the game in the second half due to a back injury.

After the loss, Indiana head coach Stephanie White blasted the league for not protecting Clark.

“We have a generational talent and WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called. Absolutely unacceptable,” White said.

“We spent all offseason looking at officiating, and I still say the one thing that we keep asking for is consistency. [Clark] is not called the same way as everybody else is called. The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy.”

This is not the first instance in which the league upgraded a play involving Clark to a flagrant foul. During Clark’s rookie season, then-Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter had a foul upgraded to a flagrant after she checked Clark with her shoulder. Clark’s supporters have decried what they consider overly physical play since she entered the WNBA in 2024.

“I think at this point I know I’m going to take a couple of hard shots a game and that’s what it is,” Clark said during her rookie season. “I’m trying not to let it bother me.”

Now in her third year, Clark is averaging a career-best 21.2 points per game for the Fever. She is also averaging 8.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds. After an injury-plagued sophomore campaign, Clark has appeared in 17 of Indiana’s 18 games so far.

The Fever’s next game is against the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday.

Thomas will serve her suspension the same day when Phoenix plays the Toronto Tempo.