The foul occurred with 15.8 seconds left in the third quarter on a Fever inbounds play, moments after Carter sank a mid-range jump shot. Clark was preparing to receive the inbounds pass from Fever teammate Aliyah Boston when Carter, who had remained on that side of the court following her made shot, proceeded to shoulder check Clark to the ground.
Officials ruled Carter’s move a common foul and the play was not reviewed.
At the end of the quarter, Clark, during a sideline interview, told ESPN that Carter’s foul was “not a basketball play.” Meanwhile, Sides, after joking that she was “trying not to get fined,” told reporters that she has submitted plays involving Clark to the WNBA for review.
“We’re just going to keep sending these possessions to the league, and these plays, and hopefully they’ll start, you know, taking a better look at some of the things that we see happening, or we think is happening,” Sides said.
“Just more happy that Caitlin handled it the way she did. You know, it’s tough to keep getting hammered the way she does and to not get rewarded with free throws or foul calls. She’s continued to fight through that. Appreciate that from her. Really, really proud of her for doing that.”
The WNBA on Sunday upgraded Carter’s foul on Clark to a Flagrant 1 after review, according to Alexa Philippou of ESPN. Clark and the Fever will next take on the New York Liberty on Sunday night.
"Individuals who have never covered the WNBA before, don’t have the history to help provide context, don’t know the storylines or the players, but have large platforms and the loudest voices, are helping to fan the flames."
— Lyndsey D'Arcangelo 🏀 (@darcangel21) June 3, 2024
And since I'm on a soapbox, lemme just add that "talking" about a sport does not equal "covering" a sport. These ppl are TALKING about the WNBA. But they aint covering it. I haven't seen a single one of these high profile media personalities in the press conferences (1/2)
Actually, I’m lucky enough to have my own column, so I can tell you how much I hate these tweets and I will tell you how much I hate them.
First, and most important, I’m not trying to single out the writers of tweets. I’m not familiar with either of their work, but I’ve seen this take a lot over the past few weeks and these particular tweets were retweeted into my feed Monday and pushed me to write about it.
The theory that you have to be a long-time WNBA follower/watcher in order to voice an opinion about general issues regarding the league and the game is complete nonsense.
You don’t have to watch every WNBA game to know this is a cheap shot.
Anyone who knows anything about basketball knows this is a dirty play.
I agree that someone who doesn’t follow the WNBA shouldn’t be breaking down which team has the best defense or which coaches are great at X’s and O’s strategy. But the idea that unless you are a hardcore WNBA watcher you should shut up about anything related to the league goes against everything that is sports.
People are allowed to talk about a sport without covering that sport. People who have large platforms are allowed to weigh in on any sports topic they want if they think the general audience will respond, watch, or click.
What so many people seem to be forgetting about what’s going on with the WNBA right now is that sports are supposed to be fun. Sports are supposed to be entertaining. Sports are a watercooler topic. A huge part of sports fandom is arguing, offering opinions and debating. The WNBA has that right now because of Caitlin Clark.
Here's the other thing that’s going on here. Sports are also a business. It’s a business for companies and individuals who rely on page views, engagement, clicks, subscriptions, video views, etc. If the people in those businesses see that Clark drives those things (and she does), then they will give you as much Clark content as possible regardless of what their WNBA coverage has been in the past. This is just Business 101.
So if there’s a dirty play in any sport, or if a player gets a historic contract in any sport, or if a player sets ratings records in any sport, it’s going to get talked about by plenty of people who don’t follow the sport.
The other issue here is Clark has crossed over into the mainstream. She gets covered on the Today show, network evening news, People magazine, TMZ, etc. She is not just a sports figure at this point. She is also a pop-culture figure.
Whether you like it or not, more people are watching the WNBA and attending the WNBA because of Clark. That can’t be argued. And a lot of those people just care about Clark and not the WNBA. So people with small platforms, big platforms and no platforms are going to opine on any and everything related to Clark. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
2. In Monday’s Traina Thoughts, we told you about Monica McNutt pushing back against Stephen A. Smith on First Take about his coverage of the WNBA. Smith wanted credit for talking about the WNBA on the show and McNutt said, “Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform you could’ve been doing this three years ago if you wanted to."
Here’s the reality though. You know why Smith has covered the WNBA? And do you know why ESPN covers the WNBA? Because the network airs WNBA games. If you think ESPN would spend as much time covering the WNBA if they didn’t have television rights, I have three words for you: National. Hockey. League. ESPN gave the NHL very little coverage when it didn’t air games.
3. Good news for Good Morning Football fans. Kyle Brandt revealed Monday that he will remain with the show when it moves from New York City to Los Angeles later this summer. Brandt will be on the air five days a week. Jamie Erdahl has already announced that she’s making the move to California.
4. Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, who appeared in 75 games for the San Diego last season, was suspended for life by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for betting on the sport.
Marcaho definitely seems like he enjoys placing a wager.
He was found to have placed 387 baseball bets from Oct. 16, 2022 to Nov. 1, 2023, totaling more than $150,000.
The problem is that 231 of those wagers included MLB games. The league says 25 of those bets included wagers on Pittsburgh Pirates games while he was on the team’s major league roster.
Here is MLB's account of the baseball betting by Tucupita Marcano that caused him to be banned from baseball "permanently."
231 bets on baseball Baseball bets totaling $87,319 25 bets on the Pirates while he was a Pirates player pic.twitter.com/WTEAslhqel
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Charles Barkley.
The Inside the NBA host discusses the possibility of TNT losing the NBA in the current television rights negotiations, his frustration with the lack of communication from Warner Brothers Discovery about the negotiations, whether the show could continue on another network, reaction from fans to the possible end of Inside the NBA, the awkwardness of still having to work next season for TNT if it loses the NBA beginning in the 2025–26 season, and the lack of loyalty from the NBA and what would make him decide between ESPN, NBC and Amazon if he became a free agent.
Barkley also goes off on CNN for never telling him that his show with Gayle King, King Charles, was canceled, he explains what could make him be the subject of a comedy roast, who the two nicest GOATs are in sports, the Lakers saying that LeBron James doesn't have a say in their coaching search and the reaction to his recent Caitlin Clark rant.
Following Barkley, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week's topics include the passing of Bill Walton, Ángel Hernández's retirement from Major League Baseball, the mystery behind the Dov Kleiman Twitter account and the latest story about a restaurant charging for a ridiculous service.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since I included Scott Van Pelt’s rant about going to the beach today, we should remember when happened when Larry David went to the beach.
Caitlin Clark didn't disappoint in her WNBA debut on Friday night, a 79–76 preseason loss for the Indiana Fever at the hands of the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, TX.
Clark, playing professional basketball for the first time, looked right at home, scoring a team-high 21 points while draining five three-pointers in 28 minutes of action.
The Iowa product also provided a highlight reel moment in the first quarter, as she lost Wings defender Jacy Sheldon on the dribble—perhaps due to some contact by Clark—resulting in Sheldon falling to the floor as a photographer with impeccable timing snapped the picture. The Fever posted the epic photo onto X, formerly Twitter, and WNBA fans absolutely loved it.
Kudos to Gregory Shamus of Getty Images for getting the perfect photo. Clark went on to drain the three-pointer, to the delight of the sold-out crowd at the College Park Center.
Clark will next take the court for her home debut against the Atlanta Dream at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Thursday night after the contest was rescheduled to avoid conflict with the Indiana Pacers' playoff game.
Getting to the foul line is a key part of Caitlin Clark's offensive bag, which sometimes leads to the rookie superstar embellishing contact from defenders in order to secure a foul call from officials.
Clark was awarded a foul during Monday's tilt between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun after officials deemed that DiJonai Carrington reached in while trying to steal the ball.
Carrington clearly did not agree with the assessment from the referees, and she made clear that she felt Clark had flopped on the play. After hearing the whistle sound and the official call her number for a foul, Carrington comically mimed Clark's flopping antics.
Carrington appeared to bump Clark while she tried to drive to the basket, which is what prompted the whistle from the referee. That didn't sit well with Carrington, who indicated to the official that Clark had sold the contact with a flop.
Ultimately, it was Carrington and the Sun who got the last laugh. They picked up an 89–72 victory on their home court, marking the third time this season they've beaten Indiana. Clark was a game-worst -30 and had just 10 points on the night while Carrington led all scorers with 22 points.
