Caitlin Clark: Excessive coverage of her ‘a real disservice to’ WNBA, other players

Ever since Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark scrambled for a ball on the floor during their July 24 game and Thomas pushed her closed fist against Clark’s neck as she attempted to stand, leading to a retroactive flagrant 2 foul and a one-game suspension, we’ve heard from a lot of people.

We’ve heard from Fever coach Stephanie White, who condemned the move and called for change. We’ve heard from Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts, who defended Thomas and called out the league’s investigative process. We’ve heard from Thomas, who said she received death threats and called out the league. We’ve heard from WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert, who tried to put a Band-Aid over everything. We’ve even heard from FS1’s Emmanuel Acho, who thinks Clark should just leave the WNBA and play elsewhere.

The one person we hadn’t heard from was Clark. Until Friday.

Clark met with the media Friday morning and didn’t even wait for the questions she knew were coming before she dove into her feelings over what had happened and what she thinks needs to change.

“First of all, I know what you guys are going to ask, and I did think it was a flagrant foul, and our reffing just needs to be better,” said Clark. “It’s tough. Obviously the refs are in a really difficult spot. It’s one of the hardest jobs in the world, in my opinion, is to make calls. All you do is get yelled at the whole time by everybody. You’re never winning.

“The league’s just got to do better protecting our players in that regard. I don’t really think that it was up for debate. Obviously it wasn’t called in real time. You go back and watch the clip, I think it’s pretty straightforward. It’s kind of been a discussion for 3 years now, and I think we really need to do a better job protecting the people in this league.

“Obviously I’ve been involved in a few of those plays, but there’s been plenty others across the league that haven’t got called. Go back and postgame or whatever it is, teams submit clips, nothing really changes. So I think overall the league just has to do better and we have to invest in those areas. The technology can get better. We can treat the referees a little bit better. Pay them like they’re full-time employees.

“As I’ve stood up here and said before, like the harassment, the hate, none of that is okay. That goes for the opposing team we play. That goes for my teammates. That goes for my coaches. There should never be a question of character. Like, I’ve always stood up here and said that, and that’s truly what I believe. That’s how I was raised.”

Lengthy opening statement from Caitlin Clark: pic.twitter.com/fLlwYmvFLy

— Tony East (@TonyREast) July 3, 2026

Clark, who hasn’t always been the most forthcoming about how she’s feeling and her experience in the league, shared that she is very much affected by what’s been happening on and off the court.

“I think a lot of people sometimes think I’m a robot. I’m not a robot. I have emotions, I have feelings, and it can be really difficult to go through a lot of that,” she continued. “I’m 24 years old trying to navigate a lot. And I think at times, I’ve been in this world for 4 years now and you would never change any of it. But there are times that it is hard, and there are times that it probably affects me a little bit more than I do put on. I would never change any of that for the world. But I think it’s important that people do remember that part of it, too.”

Clark then noted her perception that coverage of her dominates the WNBA conversation and that she’d like to see that change.

“I turned the TV on on Sunday, and that game was on Wednesday, and that’s all people are still talking about. And I feel like that’s just a real disservice to our league. I get it, you talk about it, you talk about whether it’s flagrant, you talk about whatever it is. But to continue to beat down, beat down, and then for the narrative to be taken other places, that’s just really not acceptable. I think it’s just— it’s hard to see, you know.

“It’s a disservice to my team, but it’s also a disservice to the other teams in this league and other players in this league. There’s so much amazing talent, and there’s so many amazing players that are playing at an incredibly high rate… I remember watching them discuss it on TV and I, I didn’t know they were just going to discuss it. I was just watching the other games cause I try to watch as much as I can. And I honestly felt bad for the players that were playing the games those days. Also, I feel bad for my teammates. They played on Friday and they dominated and they played really well and nobody wanted to talk about that. They were just worried about everything else.

“I think it’s all of our jobs to help refocus the narratives a lot of the times and we can do better at that. And I think it’ll help our great game grow a lot more. And that goes for obviously the Fever and whatever. But at the same time, you guys are here in this arena every time we play, and the amount of people that are passionate and love the game and respect the other team and the young girls and the young boys that show up, we can’t lose sight of that. And that’s whether we’re here at home and, whether that’s we’re on the road.

“There’s a lot of really, really great people that love this league and love our organization. I’m thankful to be here in an organization that has my back and will always stand up for me, and we can’t ever lose sight of that, the joy and the fire and the fun. That’s why you play this game. And I think it kind of goes back to a little bit of my frustration. I remember seeing a headline  — and I don’t remember who wrote this, and I try to stay away from social media as much as I can, but sometimes it can be hard. … And it was like the headline read like, this season has been everything but fun and just full of frustration for Clark and the Fever. And I’m like, No one ever asked me that. Nobody ever asked me that. Like, that’s wrong.

“Discuss my play. Discuss if I played bad. Discuss if I played good. And at times I understand there’s other things that need to be talked about. Great, whatever. But let’s continue to move on and things like that. And, but I think just focusing on the joy and the amazing parts of this game, like I said, I think it’s sometimes a disservice to not only our team, but to everybody else. Let’s get back to a lot more smiling and positivity. I think our world could use a lot of that.”

Clark added that she’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Aces but is feeling better and expects to be back in action soon.