Pressure Mounts for WNBA to Take Action After Caitlin Clark Incident originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The WNBA has a problem on its hands, and fans want the league to start making changes, or at the very least acknowledge it.
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Few would argue that Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark is the face of the WNBA and the biggest needle-mover the league has right now. When Clark missed five games over three weeks earlier this season with a quadriceps injury, WNBA viewership tanked by 55%, according to USA Today.
Clark’s return game against the New York Liberty on Saturday was the third-most watched WNBA game on ABC ever, averaging 2.2 million viewers and peaking at 2.8 million.
But Clark’s popularity isn’t the only thing that’s been rising — so too are the number of fouls the 23-year-old Iowa alum has been taking.
Per Stat Surge, 17% of all the flagrant fouls last season were against Clark (she drew more than double the flagrants of the next-closest player), and 11.8% of those flagrant were committed by Chicago Sky players against Clark.
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Clark was fouled 4.2 times per game during her rookie season, the third-highest rate among all players. That trend has continued this season, and the physicality of some of those fouls has seemingly intensified.
Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon (4) fouls Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
The most recent example came in Tuesday’s 88-71 win over the Connecticut Sun, in which Clark was poked in the eye by Jacy Sheldon and then shoved to the floor by Marina Mabrey.
Sheldon was assessed a flagrant 1 and Mabrey a flagrant 2, and Mabrey was also fined $400 for her shove. And while some punishment is better than none, that didn’t stop the league from getting called out on social media for not enforcing harsher punishments for the beating Clark has been taking.
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“It’s going to be very interesting to see what Cathy Engelbert says today. This is a big moment for the WNBA. We now have data that Clark alone draws more than half the league’s TV audience. Can the W continue to allow her to receive cheap shots like Mabrey’s? We shall see,” USA Today reporter Christine Brennan wrote on X.
Several fans agreed with Brennan’s point, and many of them called on the league to start taking more drastic action to protect Clark.
“Unless the WNBA starts suspending these [expletive], Caitlyn Clark is in a state of constant physical threat,” one fan wrote.
“Jacy Sheldon is nowhere near making a play on the ball here when she hits Caitlin Clark in the face. If this isn’t a suspension then WNBA is a 🤡 show,” another replied.
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“The hate and constant targeting she’s facing is unreal. If this were happening to Steph or LeBron, there’d be fines, ejections, and nonstop outrage. She deserves better and the silence around it is unacceptable,” a third commented.
“The Caitlin Clark hate by not only WNBA players but also the league is one of the most insane things to me. I just don’t get it at all. She should be protected at all costs for what she is doing for the game,” another user remarked.
“Why is the WNBA so stupid. Catlin Clark is the only good thing about it and they refuse to protect her 🤦♂️😂,” asked another user.
“The @WNBA is an unserious league. They continue to turn a blind eye to the abuse Caitlin Clark is dealing with, even though she’s the best thing to ever happen to that league. Bravo, you [expletive] idiots,” declared one fan.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 19, 2025, where it first appeared.
