Alyssa Thomas says she has gotten death threats, slurs over Caitlin Clark incident

Alyssa Thomas is speaking out this week on the aftermath of her incident with Caitlin Clark.

The Phoenix Mercury forward Thomas revealed in an interview with ESPN on Tuesday that she has been getting death threats and racial slurs in the wake of her ugly in-game incident with the Indiana Fever star Clark earlier this month. Thomas also called out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert for failing to speak out about the treatment that she had been getting.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this over basketball,” Thomas said. “A lot of us — myself included — didn’t even know the play took place until after the game. Now we’re being painted as thugs. There’s death threats out on us. It’s really unacceptable. It’s something that needs to change in this league, and I’m just really sick and tired of it.

“People are sending racial slurs and all types of stuff,” added Thomas. “There’s a difference between trolling and there’s a difference between hatred. The hatred that we’re experiencing over a play that, honestly, was a complete accident, no one even knew it happened. It’s just unfortunate. The league has to do better in this instance. We still have yet to hear anything from Cathy. It’s no surprise. You could see what’s being said on social media. Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but as usual, she remains silent. That’s unfortunate when our lives our being threatened.”

Engelbert did ultimately issue a public statement openly condeming the “hate” towards Thomas later in the day on Tuesday. You can read Engelbert’s statement here.