Caitlin Clark made WNBA history on Friday night, becoming the first player in the league to score 40 points and dish out 10 assists in a single game, doing so against the Seattle Storm at home in Indianapolis.
The achievement came weeks after Clark was thrown to the floor and struck in the throat by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas during another home game in Indiana. No foul was called at the time. Only after a review a full day later did the WNBA upgrade the incident to a Flagrant 2 violation, suspend Thomas for one game, and issue a fine.
Reports suggest it was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, not WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who ultimately pushed for the Thomas suspension.
A pattern of targeting
The Thomas incident was not isolated. Clark has been hip-checked, poked in the eye and physically targeted over the past two years, according to Jennifer Sey, the 1986 Women’s National Gymnastics Champion and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, who wrote about the pattern in an opinion piece.
Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White described the physicality directed at Clark as egregious and unacceptable following the June Mercury game. Teammate Sophie Cunningham said in late June that other players are definitely targeting Clark.
Sey argues that Engelbert, despite publicly calling Clark a transformational player, has allowed a culture of on-court pile-ons to fester at a time when player safety should be non-negotiable.
Political pressure mounts
On July 8, a group of 11 Republican lawmakers led by Rep. August Pfluger of Texas sent a letter to Engelbert citing repeated acts of unnecessary physical hostility and violence against Clark. The lawmakers warned of potential Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations over what they described as a hostile work environment.
Sey draws a parallel to USA Gymnastics, which failed to protect athletes from former team doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted in 2017 of sexually abusing hundreds of young women over more than two decades. Congressional action in 2017 and the passing of the Safe Sport Act in 2018 eventually introduced oversight that the governing body had refused to impose on itself.
The business case
Since Clark entered the league in 2024, she has driven record ratings, sold-out arenas, new sponsorships and a surge in new fans. Before Clark, the WNBA averaged roughly 300,000 viewers per game; games featuring Clark now regularly top one million.
The WNBA has never been profitable and is subsidized by the NBA. Sey argues the league is squandering an opportunity to reach profitability by failing to decisively protect and market its biggest draw.
Sey writes that Engelbert has a fiduciary responsibility to grow the league and maximize value for owners, players and fans, and that placating egos at the expense of the bottom line violates that duty.
