Stephanie White Addresses Notion of 'Rough Play' Directed at Caitlin Clark, Fever

The Indiana Fever fell to 2-3 after their May 28 defeat to the Washington Mystics. While no team ever wants to lose a game regardless of circumstance, this one was at least easily explainable for Fever fans because it was the first game their team played without star guard Caitlin Clark during the regular season, as Clark is on the road to recovery from a left quad strain.

Clark's quad injury has nothing to do with any physical play she experienced from opponents on the court. However, a common narrative around Clark during her first two WNBA seasons is that she's subject to overly physical or rough play from players trying to guard her, supposedly because playing her that way is on the scouting report.

Clark dealing with this unrelenting physicality when she was on the court has frustrated Fever fans to the point where a reporter was compelled to ask Fever coach Stephanie White if she thinks the league should protect all players from rough play during games.

"I don't feel like there's any more intentionally rough play than there is in any basketball game, Men's or women's, really," White responded, per an X post from Chloe Peterson of IndyStar.

"Obviously, I think we could get better in certain areas, as far as how we call the game. Consistency with how we call the game. We've made a real point to protect air-borne shooters on the perimeter, I don't think we do as good of a job at that near the rim," White added. "Are we going to say that we want a free-flowing offensive game, or are we going to have tough, grind-out physical games?

"And whatever way it is, the players will adjust, and coaches will adjust. But we can't have it be one way one quarter and another way another quarter. So I don't think collectively, the league as a whole has to step in and do something. I just think that there has to be improvements in certain areas," White concluded.