The Indiana Fever defeated the Phoenix Mercury, 86-77, on Monday to end a two-game skid for the Fever and to avoid three straight defeats for the first time in over a calendar year. However, the story after the game wasn’t the outcome itself but rather an in-game dust-up that led to Caitlin Clark picking up her fifth technical foul.
In the fourth quarter and with Indiana holding a 19-point lead, Clark and former teammate DeWanna Bonner—who was waived by Indiana mid-season in 2025—got into it a bit, with Clark being whistled for a personal foul. That led to some words being exchanged between the two, with Clark clapping her hands after the whistle. Then other players from both teams got involved as well.
The Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas, as well as the Fever’s Sophie Cunningham and Myisha Hines-Allen, also joined the scrum which amounted to nothing overly physical but lots of words and finger pointing. After refs regained control of the situation, they handed out technical fouls to all five of the aforementioned players.
Hines-Allen then picked up her second technical, and was subsequently ejected, on the next possession. However, the headline came later, when Clark conducted her post-game press conference in which she blasted the referees—one of them in particular.
“I got a technical for clapping. We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m going to be suspended for if I’m gonna get technicals for clapping,” Clark said before targeting official Gerda Gatling.
“I asked Gerda, and Gerda said that I got a technical for clapping. So, if any technical should be taken away, it should be that one. If it’s truly for clapping, that’s what they said they gave it to me for was for clapping. It’s just ridiculous, so I don’t understand it at all.”
Picking up a technical in what was then a lopsided game doesn’t amount to much, but the accumulation of technical fouls for Clark this season compounds the issue. That was her fifth of the year, which—ironically—is tied with Angel Reese, for the most technicals in the WNBA. Once players receive an eighth technical foul, then they are automatically suspended for a game.
Clark was asked how aware she has to be on the court with a potential suspension looming if she keeps getting technical fouls.
“I’m going to play with emotion, I’m going to play with passion, and if they’re going to give me a technical foul for clapping, then so be it,” responded Clark. “I went to Gerda, and I said ‘Why’d you get me a technical foul?‘ and she said because I was clapping and instigating. I said, ’OK then, you just don’t like competitive basketball,' and that’s just facts, that’s just reality. So, I’m disappointed in them.”
The Fever haven’t even played 40 percent of their regular season games thus far, so Clark could be flirting with danger over the rest of the year. However, she is familiar with toeing the line, in regard to the automatic suspension from technical fouls, but never crossing it. In her rookie season in 2024, the technical foul limit was seven, and Clark picked up six during the regular season. She avoided picking up the seventh, although she only had two more regular season games after picking up her sixth.
As for the game itself, the scrum, which resulted in six technical fouls over the span of 8 seconds, seemed to reinvigorate Phoenix. It then finished the game outscoring Indiana 23-13 to make the final score more palatable.
That fourth quarter was a microcosm of the entire game as it was a contest of runs by both teams. All four quarters saw one team outscore the other by double digits. The Mercury had a plus-13 point differential in the first quarter and a plus-10 in the fourth. Meanwhile, Indiana has a plus-13 point differential in the second quarter and a plus-19 in the third.
Clark led all scorers with 24 points, marking her sixth straight game with at least 20 points. She added 9 assists, 3 rebounds, and made 3 of 10 three-point attempts. Furthering the theme of Clark toeing a line without going over it, she also had five personal fouls in the game, one shy of disqualification. It was the 12th time in her WNBA career that she picked up five personal fouls but has never racked up six.
For the season, Clark is averaging a career high of 21.3 points to go along with 8.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds. She ranks third in the WNBA in scoring and second in assists, while also ranking fifth in personal fouls. She’s led the Fever to a 10-7 record, which is sixth best in the WNBA, and the Fever tops the W by averaging 92.1 points per game.
