The foul was originally issued an away-from-ball foul, but it was later changed to a Flagrant 1 after a WNBA review. Carter refused to answer any questions about Clark in her post-game media session, so it’s unclear what caused the incident.
Carter didn’t keep her silence for too long regarding the situation, as she posted a comment about Clark on Threads on Sunday. The comment was clearly a dig at Clark, who was the No. 1 WNBA draft pick in April.
“Beside three point shooting what does she bring to the table man,” Carter wrote.
There seems to be some tension on and off the court now between some of the players.
The foul itself sparked a frenzy on social media, with Fever coach Christie Sides even adding her thoughts on the “unacceptable” foul. She even posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, asking for something to be done about fouls like this.
This is unacceptable @wnba When will the consistent complaints be heard?!? Something has to be done! https://t.co/QVf1vHA5l4
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.
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I don’t think the Timberwolves are going to complete the comeback, but I’m glad they’re at least shortening the break before the NBA Finals.
Over the course of her first seven WNBA games, Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark looked like, well, a rookie. She had a handful of solid offensive performances (three games with at least 20 points) but also her fair share of struggles (like a 2-for-8 shooting night in a loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday).
But in Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks, Clark had her first true superstar game as a pro, scoring 30 points (on 7-of-16 shooting) with five rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks. She’s the first rookie since Rhynne Howard in 2022 to have a 30-point game and the first since Sabrina Ionescu in ’20 to have 30 points, five assists and five rebounds in a game. Not impressed yet? Clark is the first rookie in WNBA history and just the fourth WNBA player ever to have at least 30 points, five assists, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals in a game.
That’s the kind of performance fans expected from Clark when she turned pro, and it was only a matter of time before it became a reality. Every rookie needs some time to adjust to the higher level of play in the pros, and the transition is especially hard for WNBA players who had barely a month between the end of their college season and the start of their rookie year.
But it wasn’t all positive news for Clark. For one thing, she also notched seven turnovers. Losing the ball has been the biggest problem for Clark in her brief pro career. She currently leads the WNBA in turnovers per game with 5.3, well ahead of the next closest player, Skyler Diggins-Smith with 4.3. Turnovers are nothing new for Clark. She led the NCAA in that category three times in her college career and ranks third on the all-time list. But if the biggest problem with her game is that she coughs the ball up a little more often than you’d like, that’s something the Fever can certainly live with.
More disappointingly, the Fever lost the game, 88–82, to drop to 1–7 on the season. That’s the second worst record in the league. Only the winless Washington Mystics (0–6) have been worse.
“I think I just played with an aggressive mindset,” Clark told reporters. “I think that was the biggest thing—to play downhill the best I could. We did some good things and then we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”
The Fever’s best stretch came immediately after halftime, when they started the third quarter on an 11–0 run to take a 43–37 lead. But the Sparks closed the quarter with an 11–0 run of their own to go up 59–55. The Los Angeles lead swelled to as many as 14 in the fourth quarter as the Fever failed to turn the tide.
“You don't give yourself a chance … You can't do something right for two and a half quarters and then just stop doing it,” Indiana coach Christie Sides said. “We were going under some of the screens that were supposed to be going over. We were gambling and getting out of position.
“Instead of us stepping over and stopping them (and) having our teammates’ back, we're reaching. That’s just a lack of discipline.”
The Fever clearly still have a lot to figure out, but the more games like Tuesday’s that Clark has, the easier the wins will come.
Towns stepped up to keep Minnesota alive vs. Dallas on Tuesday. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Business is booming in the WNBA, largely thanks to the highly coveted rookie class headlined by the likes of Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink and Angel Reese, among others.
With the first month of the 2024 season officially past, the league announced its TV ratings and attendance details for the month of May. It comes as no surprise that both are up massively compared to last year, with TV ratings reaching all-time highs and attendance at its highest mark in 26 years.
The league reported that approximately 400,000 fans attended WNBA games in May, the most the league has recorded since 1998. More than half of the league's games have resulted in sellouts, an increase of 156% over last season.
In terms of television viewership, the league noted that WNBA games have logged an average viewership of 1.32 million viewers per game across ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC and CBS. That figure is almost three times more than last season.
The season-opening matchup between Clark's Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun recorded an average of 2.12 million viewers on ESPN 2, ESPN+ and Disney+, making it the most-watched WNBA game on any Disney platform in history.
Six days later, the Fever's rematch against the Sun on ESPN drew the largest TV audience for any WNBA game on the network with an average of 1.56 millions viewers.
Furthermore, merchandise sales have skyrocketed. The WNBA reports that the WNBAstore website has received a staggering increase in transactions of more than 756% compared to this time last year.
