Caitlin Clark defends Stephanie White against booing Fever fans: ‘That made me a little sick’

Indiana Fever All-Star guard Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White must be experiencing déjà vu.

On May 30, Clark and White were caught on camera in the midst of an intense sideline spat. Two days later, Clark put to bed any delusions of a rocky relationship.

“It’s just another example of what everybody, all of you, want to blow up and make something that is just lost and not in reality,” Clark said, in part, at the time, per ESPN’s Kareem Copeland. “When I got hurt at the Connecticut game last year, I bawled in Steph’s arms. That’s somebody I will ride for for the rest of my life. People that just sit on their phones all day, they don’t see those moments.”

Fast forward a little over two months. Last Saturday, White came under fire again for her completely rational assessment of Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington’s Flagrant 2 foul on Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. The media mania spun so far out of control that Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith publicly called for White’s job.

Come Tuesday night, the Fever hosted the New York Liberty. White used her pregame press conference to deliver a passionate speech directed at “an online community that’s trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist.”

“The hate, the fear-mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win,” White said. “It won’t win. We are united, we are connected, [and] we will not be divided. Every day, these women put their ass on the line. Every day. When they go low, we go high. Love will win! Grace will win! Humility will win! And kindness will win! I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”

Stephanie White made the following statement before tonight’s game: pic.twitter.com/VkYThRldsu

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) August 11, 2026

After the Fever thoroughly defeated the Liberty, Clark stood by White with a pointed message for any IRL Fever fans who thought they could get away with booing White.

“I talked to Steph earlier in the day, too, and I think we forget a lot of times, like, we’re human, and she has feelings,” Clark said during her joint postgame press conference with Cunningham. “There’s moments that are really hard, and sometimes, that’s just the job that you sign up for, but at the same time, it’s OK to feel those emotions. I just told her, I’ve been through the same thing. There’s been days where I’ve been really upset, and you can have the thickest skin in the world, but sometimes, it does get to you.”

“I think our world is just, like, we love to hate; we love to divide,” Clark added, noting that it’s “painful” to watch.

“There was no way we were losing this game for her,” Clark said. “It’s tough. That’s my head coach. I hated that our fans booed her before the game. That made me a little sick, to be honest. You can disagree, and this and that, and I get it. It’s professional sports. People are gonna boo.

“But at the end of the day, that’s our head coach, and we’re gonna ride for her, and we’re always gonna have her back. That’s never gonna tear our locker room apart. I just love her.”

Cunningham also said that the Fever locker room is “good,” despite the “outside noise,” and defended White’s original comments about Carrington’s foul. “Me and Steph are great,” Cunningham said. “Steph is great with all of us, and so, it’s really the outside noise that’s trying to distract us. But we’re good.”

Clark posted 22 points and 10 assists in the 106-92 win over New York. Clark’s 19th career 20-point, 10-assist game is more than any other franchise in WNBA history, save for the Fever’s 21, per Jack Maloney. The Fever eclipsed 100 points for the 15th time this season, an all-time WNBA record.

It’s almost as if the Fever are playing noteworthy basketball, and Stephanie White, the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year, knows what she’s doing. Can I interest anyone in discussing that instead?