PHOENIX – Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White showed little interest in addressing a recent letter sent by 11 Republican members of Congress to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert over the treatment of superstar Caitlin Clark.
OutKick asked White prior to Thursday night’s game against the Phoenix Mercury what her reaction was to the letter, which stated that the Republican lawmakers were concerned about “physical hostility” and “violence” that Clark faces and suggested it might be “racially motivated.”
“Our team made a statement yesterday so you can find that statement,” White said.
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“I understand that, I just mean as a coach when you hear that one of your players is being mentioned in a letter from members of Congress to the commissioner of the league, how do you handle that?” I pressed.
“Again, that’s not something we can control,” White said, sidestepping the question a second time before echoing some of the language from the team’s statement.
“We’re not affiliated with those groups. We try to keep the main thing the main thing and focus on the things we can control.”
The Fever released a statement on Wednesday that said, “Our organization nor Caitlin has had any interaction with anyone in this congressional group and we were unaware of their letter.”
The statement continued: “We have been clear in our public comments and in our ongoing dialogue with the League about the priority of player safety. Our players and our fans know where we stand on those issues, and we will continue to stick up for our team and a standard of excellence across the league.”
In other words, the Fever and White are willing to broadly discuss “player safety” but neither directly addressed whether race has anything to do with how Clark specifically is treated.
Of course, Clark is the league’s biggest star by a wide margin and it behooves everyone involved to protect her at all costs. However, it seems that many of the players in the WNBA might not have gotten that memo.
As the letter states, “Clark has been hip-checked, poked in the eye, and struck in the throat during games. These incidents go far beyond routine physical play, yet the WNBA and its officiating have too often failed to address these unacceptable incidents and hold players accountable.”
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The Fever ruled Clark out for Thursday night’s game against Phoenix despite the guard playing 16 minutes on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Sparks and saying afterward that her “body feels great.”
White did not address whether the decision to sit Clark had anything to do with Thursday’s opponent, the Mercury. She did say prior to Wednesday’s game that Clark and Aliyah Boston would split the back-to-back, with Clark active against Los Angeles and Boston active against Phoenix.
The last time the Fever and Mercury met, on June 24, Phoenix forward Alyssa Thomas drove her fist into Clark’s throat area during a scramble for a loose ball.
No foul was called on the play in real time, but the WNBA announced the following day that Thomas had received a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty and a one-game suspension after a postgame review.
Many fans were eagerly anticipating a rematch between the two teams, since their June 22 meeting also spawned the now famous Sophie Cunningham pointing meme.
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While Cunningham took the court on Thursday night in Phoenix, Clark did not.
Maybe the Fever are taking player safety seriously after all and not subjecting her to the team that, according to White, delivered “two cheap shots” to Clark.
Of course, it would be better if teams stopped taking cheap shots at Clark altogether. Baby steps, though.
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