Indiana Fever Make Move as Caitlin Clark Suspension Nears
from Athlon Sports, with Angelo Guinhawa, and from YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Caitlin Clark is undeniably the most important player on the Indiana Fever. She’s averaging 21.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, placing her fourth in points and second in assists in the whole WNBA.
The problem, however, is that Clark has often found herself in technical foul trouble. In fact, she now leads the WNBA in techs with seven, tied with Atlanta Dream star Angel Reese.
Clark received her seventh technical foul during Wednesday’s game against the Connecticut Sun. She and Saniya Rivers had a heated verbal exchange late in the third quarter after Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa fouled the Fever All-Star.
Apparently, Rivers told Clark she was locking her up, prompting the Fever guard to respond by saying “look at the scoreboard.” Indiana was ahead 95-67 at the time.
Clark is already at the technical foul limit, so if the WNBA doesn’t rescind the call, she will be suspended for one game when she reaches her eighth technical foul.
With that being said, the Fever have reportedly taken a proactive approach to helping Clark. The team has apparently appealed the call to the WNBA in hopes of getting it overturned.
“I’ve been told by a team source that the technical foul from yesterday has been appealed,” Alexa Philippou of ESPN reported on Thursday. “Not yet heard a decision.”
For what it’s worth, Philippou also shared that the Fever previously appealed the technical foul Clark received in their July 18 game against the New York Liberty. Clark received a tech after complaining to a referee about what she believed was an illegal screen from Jonquel Jones. Unfortunately, the call was not rescinded.
So far, WNBA referees have called 144 technical fouls, but the WNBA has only rescinded four of them. Clark has also been called for a tech for far less, such as clapping.
Still, it will be interesting to see what the WNBA decides to do regarding Clark’s technical foul.