Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark can’t catch a break these days.
Clark endured a leg contusion on Wednesday, and she wouldn’t stay silent about it after an 88–75 loss to the Golden State Valkyries. She took contact from Valkyries center Kiah Stokes on a layup, and Clark hit the court with no foul called.
“The ref can’t miss that. ... Then I have to play with a contusion in my leg the rest of the game,” Clark told reporters afterward. “It’s ridiculous. ... [The ref] said I initiated the contact. Which is fine, but you can’t knee me in the leg. Knock me over.”
Clark finished the game with 13 points on 4–14 shooting and 1–8 from three-point range in 26 minutes of play. She had three rebounds, six assists, a steal and a block in the loss.
Clark, who has missed six games due to injury this season, doesn’t see the leg contusion as an issue going forward. The Fever play again on Friday against the Seattle Storm and again on Saturday against the New York Liberty.
“Ah, we’ll just rub it out,” Clark said. “Good old knuckles on it and call it a day.”
It’s not the first physical altercation for Clark this season. The worst came on June 24 against the Phoenix Mercury when she was kneed in the throat by Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas.
That didn’t lead to a call, and Fever head coach Stephanie White fumed about it afterward. Wednesday’s incident didn’t draw as strong of a response.
As much as Clark didn’t like how the no-call went on Wednesday, she acknowledged the toughness of the Valkyries. The second-year franchise has an 18–7 record this season for second in the Western Conference.
“They’re in my grill,” Clark said. “They’re probably the best defensive team in the league. They’re really good at that. I thought I finally played with a little more pace and a little bit more burst, especially down the stretch in the fourth.”
Indiana fell to 14–10 with the defeat, and the Fever are tied with the Atlanta Dream for first in the Eastern Conference despite their mediocre records. The Fever can ill afford for Clark to miss time down the stretch, though Indiana made a run to the WNBA Finals without her last year.
That said, Fever head coach Stephanie White alluded to her own frustration over the heavy contact against Clark. In two seasons coaching Clark, White has led the Fever in 37 games without her.
“They said Caitlin initiated the contact. That’s all they said. She seems to always be initiating the contact,” White told reporters after the game. “I’m trying to not get fined. Again, all I’ll say is that we just keep asking for consistency.”
Clark being in the middle of contact has been consistent throughout her young career. The NCAA’s all-time scoring leader became the No. 1 pick by the Fever in 2024 out of Iowa, and her welcome to the WNBA was met with hard hits right off the bat.
Liberty star Breanna Stewart nailed Clark with a legal screen during a May 18 game in 2024, which didn’t draw a foul. It never let up all season as Clark ended up in altercations, took a forearm and an elbow to the face, ruptured an eardrum, got knocked to the court, and got poked in the eye.
She took an eye poke again on June 17 in the 2025 season, and that led to a skirmish as Fever guard Sophie Cunningham came to her aid. That game and the previous eye poke both came against the Connecticut Sun, but a different player each time.
While Clark endured hard contact other times that season, her quad and groin injuries ultimately cut her 2025 season short. Now, she’s trying to make the most of year three and not take a beating along the way.
