Coach Nat Tibbetts and players for the Phoenix Mercury defended teammate Alyssa Thomas after Saturday’s 89-80 win over the Toronto Tempo. Thomas was suspended for the matchup after an altercation with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark on Wednesday.
Thomas appeared to punch Clark in the throat during Wednesday’s 111-109 victory against Indiana. The backlash was immediate and swift, with organizations as far-reaching as the National Police Association defending Clark.
Clark, the Iowa product who is widely credited with sparking the surging interest in the WNBA, left Wednesday’s game with a back injury. Fever officials have not provided a timeline for her return.
But the Mercury stood by their star after her suspension.
“This was not a thorough investigation in my opinion. The people involved were not questioned at all. It’s extremely disappointing,” Tibbetts said on Saturday. “No one from the league called [Thomas], our security team or myself about what we felt like happened in this situation.”
The WNBA claimed that Thomas “recklessly made contact” with Clark’s throat. Fever coach Stephanie White, who has claimed in the past that referees need to be more proactive in calls that favor Clark, said Thomas was “egregious and utterly disrespectful.”
The Mercury players, in their first game since the fiasco with the Fever, offered a different perspective.
“We’re with AT,” guard Kahleah Copper told reporters. “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 OK. I don’t think it played out how it should have professionally.”
“There’s just a lot of narratives on the media that aren’t true and aren’t who she is or how she is,” guard Lexi Held said, per ESPN. “So, just kind of wanted to be that teammate for her in these crazy, rough times.”
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