Indiana Fever Under Fire for Treatment of Caitlin Clark

The Indiana Fever beat the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday in a testy game that featured several heated exchanges, including one that saw Fever star Caitlin Clark knocked to the ground.

Though the Fever came out with an 88-71 victory, the team is facing some criticism for not properly protecting Clark from some rough play at the hands of the Sun. 

The controversial exchange came in the third quarter, when Clark was poked in the eye by Sun guard Jacy Sheldon and responded by pushing away Sheldon. Sun guard Marina Mabrey then shoved Clark as the Fever guard was turned away, sending her crashing to the ground.

Players on the court came together after the shove, but there were no further scuffles and Clark got back to her feet. Afterward, many fans criticized the Fever -- both the franchise and the players on the court -- for not properly protecting their star player.

"The Indiana Fever need to hire a goon to protect Caitlin Clark," noted the sports parody account Hater Report in a post on X. "You gotta protect the money. This is WILD"

Others pointed out that NBA teams regularly protect their star players from rough fouls, accusing the Fever players of not properly responding to the hits on Clark.

"Caitlin Clark really don’t have any goons on the team? How she get jumped on the court with nobody throwing hands?" a fan shared on X. "Draymond green would’ve hit Marina Mabrey with some sweet chin music if that happened to Steph"

"The Indiana Fever need to hire somebody whose sole job is to get ejected whenever somebody [expletive] with Caitlin Clark," another fan wrote. "An old school hockey-style enforcer to protect the woman who is more valuable than the entire [expletive] league. Not a difficult concept."