The WNBA world was buzzing after the league suspended Alyssa Thomas for one game for what it deemed a “non-basketball act” against Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark during Wednesday’s game between the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever.
At the top of the reasons for the extra discussion was because it involved Clark — any drama involving the game’s biggest superstar leads to discussions about how she’s treated by league officials, with people’s opinions generally landing on one side or the other.
But throughout all that discourse, one major aspect that often went overlooked is that the Mercury would be without their star player for one game, which is a lot more significant than it may seem on paper for a team that’s 6-13 and desperately in need of every single win it can get to keep its season alive.
Head coach Nate Tibbetts acknowledged that significance, pushing back on the narrative surrounding the incident with an opening statement before the Mercury took on the Toronto Tempo Saturday afternoon — the game Thomas would miss to serve her suspension.
“The Mercury organization would like to let [Thomas] know that she’s 100% supported by us,” Tibbetts said. “The people in this league know who [Thomas] is. She’s a competitor, she’s a winner, and she’s tough. The one thing she is not is cheap … This was not a thorough investigation, in my opinion. The people involved were not questioned at all. It’s extremely disappointing. No one from the league called [Thomas], our security team, or myself about what we felt like happened in this situation.”
The original play saw Clark drive to the lane before falling to the ground, after which three Mercury players — including Thomas — collapsed onto Clark attempting to retrieve the loose ball. During the scrum, Thomas’ fist made contact with Clark’s throat area, which was later judged by the league to be reckless, and thus constituting a flagrant foul penalty 2 call.
There was no foul call during live play, nor was it reviewed by officials during the game. It wasn’t until the clip circulated widely on social media, along with Fever head coach Stephanie White’s criticism of both the officiating and Thomas in her postgame press conference, that the league reviewed the play and ultimately handed Thomas a one-game suspension.
“Absolutely disrespectful,” White said. “We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called. And I just say again, absolutely unacceptable. We spent all offseason looking at officiating, and I still say the one thing that we keep asking for is consistency. She is not called the same way everybody else has called.”
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Tibbetts, who has also repeatedly voiced concerns about inconsistent officiating throughout the season along with many others across the league, said the incident only reinforced the need for a more coherent standard. At the same time, he defended Thomas’ reputation, pushing back on White’s suggestion that Clark is officiated differently because of her status as the league’s biggest star.
“I respect White,” Tibbetts said in his statement pregame against Toronto. “I got to know her with USA Basketball. I respect her as a coach and a person, and I understand her sticking up for [Clark] in this situation.”
“But to say that we had two cheap shots in that game, to me, is ridiculous … I agree with everyone’s stance. Let’s continue to clean up our game. I’m part of the referee task force, the same that White is, and Cheryl Reeve, and Becky Hammon. The goal is to clean up our game, but I do think it’s important not to rely on social media screenshots. This is a slippery slope, and let’s watch the whole play, the whole game,” Tibbetts continued.
“I hope that we can all agree that consistency is the main thing, and how we call these games react to situations like this with consistency. Let’s [not] base it on generational talent, fan-base involvement, all-star level players or role players. Let’s [not] base it off veterans or young players or white players or Black players or international players.”
It’s worth noting that Thomas’ dust-up with Clark was just the tip of the spear in a chippy back-to-back between the Mercury and Fever. Just two days earlier, five players received technical fouls and one was ejected following an altercation that started between Phoenix’s DeWanna Bonner and Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham.
Both Thomas and Clark were included among the players who received technicals. The Mercury fell to the Fever 86-77 in that contest, but got revenge in the next one with a 111-109 victory — in which Thomas scored a crucial eight points on 4-of-4 shooting in the fourth quarter, despite committing the illegal act that technically should have had her ejected earlier in the game.
“We’ve got a competitive group, a veteran group,” Tibbetts said postgame following the Monday night loss. “They’ve been around this for a long time. They’re not afraid of the smoke. We’re going to compete at a high level, and you just stay with it and keep playing.”
Thomas added, “This is no different than what a playoff setting is about. Play the first two games [on the road], and you might lose the first one, and it’s about making adjustments to try to get one on their court.”
With the hindsight of the league’s decision to suspend Thomas, pulling out that close win in Indiana with Thomas on the floor proved to be a massive relief for a struggling Mercury team that still has playoff hopes. But of course, the sudden loss of Thomas for the next game in Toronto — on top of a laundry list of others on the injury report — immediately spoiled that momentum.
The Tempo defeated the Mercury 98-90 in their previous match-up on May 19, but were also shorthanded going into Saturday. Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes, who combined for 61 points in that earlier contest against Phoenix, were out. The match-up was shaping up to be one where both teams would deploy lineup combinations of players who may not have played much with each other before.
Both teams’ coaches would have to make specific adjustments to adapt to their changing personnel, but the pressure fell more heavily on Tibbetts. Not only were the Mercury on the road, but at 6-13, they had far less margin for error than Toronto.
What followed was a thriller. Toronto jumped out to an early eight-point lead, but Phoenix battled back to make it just a two-point deficit by halftime. The second half saw constant lead changes, with neither team going up by more than five until the very end.
Mercury guard Kahleah Copper led the way with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting, continuing her scorching stretch after opening the season in an offensive slump. Forward Valeriane Ayayi and former Tempo guard Lexi Held added a 36 combined points, while Bonner buried a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the closing minutes to ice the game for Phoenix, closing out an 89-80 win.
Without Thomas orchestrating the defense, Tibbetts leaned far more heavily on a zone scheme that limited the Tempo in the second half after they caught fire in the first half. The Mercury also relied on contributions from every available player, with even those who had not seen the floor at all in recent games stepping into meaningful minutes.
“We didn’t look scared today,” Tibbetts said postgame. “All these games are opportunities for us to continue to get better as a group. I think they’re starting to see that we’re trending in the right direction. The trust, the belief, the toughness — I just think everyone got an opportunity tonight that was available on the roster, now you just hope that we can kind of get some people back and get healthy.”
“I’m really proud of where our group is,” he later added. “We haven’t hung our head and overthought the record, although it stings. None of us in this organization — the ownership, front office, coaches, players — are happy with where we’re at, but no one else is going to feel sorry for us either. So we just got to keep working, and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
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The victory also served as a show of support for Thomas, whose teammates echoed Tibbetts’ frustration with how the league handled the suspension.
“We’re with [Thomas],” Copper said postgame. “We just wish it would have been handled the right way. We wish somebody also called her and checked on her and made sure that she was okay. I don’t think it played out how it should have professionally.”
Held added, “We don’t really think it was handled in the best way from an administrative point of view. There’s a lot of narratives going on that are false, and we wanted to show our support and give her a little bit of a voice … Wanted to be that teammate for her in these crazy rough times.”
Despite missing their best player, Phoenix pieced together one of its grittiest wins of the season, and although there’s plenty more work to be done, the Mercury carry the momentum of the win and a much-needed four-day rest period as they return home for Thomas’ return to the lineup Thursday against the Seattle Storm.
“Losing [Thomas] was a lot,” Copper said. “So before the game, [we just talked about how] we had enough, and then just how our circle got smaller, but we were more connected … We wanted to get this W for her, and we did.”
