Jun 14, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) in the second half against the New York Liberty at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Caitlin Clark's Flagrant WNBA Treatment Cannot Continue

Originally posted on Indiana Fever on SI
By Robin Lundberg | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 9:33 PM ET

It is past time that open season on Caitlin Clark is put to an end by WNBA officials.

Physical play is a part of basketball. And superstars are subjected to it more often than others. That comes with the territory. However, at some point, a line gets crossed, and it is the job of officials to step in.

But that has not happened with the league's transcendent star, Caitlin Clark, as she continues to be on the receiving end of rough play from the opposition that requires referee intervention, while getting nothing close to superstar treatment from the ensuing calls.

The latest example came amid the Fever's win over the Connecticut Sun. At one point in the third quarter, Clark was not only raked across the eye by Jacy Sheldon, but was then knocked to the floor by Marina Mabrey. Somehow, Mabrey was not ejected and was only hit with a technical, which Clark was also hit with for reacting to being poked in the eye.

A BIG dust up between the Fever and Sun as Jacy Sheldon pokes Caitlin Clark in the eye, then Clark reacts with a shove.

A lot more people get involved, and Marina Mabrey knocks CC to the ground.

Officials are reviewing. pic.twitter.com/ossV4kU6DV
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) June 18, 2025

No one is saying Clark needs to be babied or must benefit from preferential judgments. She has proven plenty tough enough to handle all this on her own. But there is now a plethora of examples where she has been on the wrong end of plays that generally would result in flagrants or ejections, that aren't called correctly on the floor—dating back to the infamous Chennedy Carter hip check.

Not only is Clark by far the most valuable player in the league (in the most literal sense), but she is the subject of outsized defensive attention and physicality. This is fine from a competitive standpoint, but lines cannot be allowed to be crossed consistently. And the WNBA officials have failed to properly regulate these situations and nip them in the bud. So here we go again.

I'm stunned the officials did not eject Marina Mabrey.
— Michael Voepel (@MAVoepel) June 18, 2025

Clark is sure to shake all this off, as per usual. She lit up the Sun despite the aforementioned fracas. Still, it's past time the WNBA addresses the discrepancy in the whistles Clark gets. Because the special one she was once famously said to supposedly benefit from actually goes completely in the other direction.

Flagrantly so.

This article first appeared on Indiana Fever on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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