The WNBA shouldn’t need much deliberation over whether or not to suspend Phoenix Mercury superstar forward Alyssa Thomas for a game after she pressed down on Caitlin Clark’s neck on Wednesday night. It should be a given.
The referees didn’t do their job to hand Thomas a quick Flagrant 2 foul and ejection; the replay is as plain as day and has been circulating on social media. It’s bound to fill the sports morning airwaves as a plain-as-day example of officiating incompetence and beyond inappropriate conduct from Thomas. The league shouldn’t draw this out; the decision is obvious. Allowing something this flagrant and detestable to slide would cause a genuine catastrophe.
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Saturday’s road game for Phoenix against the Toronto Tempo? Thomas shouldn’t play. She needs to be benched for a game for the Clark incident; it’s as egregious and dangerous a moment as Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White said it was postgame.
White’s passionate defense of Clark against what she feels is a double standard of officiating shouldn’t sway the league one way or the other on suspending Thomas. The evidence should be more than enough to make a call.
You can see on the replay Thomas’ closed hand pushing down on Clark’s neck, causing immediate distress for the latter. It’s pretty cut-and-dry. Thomas commits an ejectable act on Clark, and the refs somehow either missed it or deemed it not worthy of any action. The first is human error; the second would be simple dereliction of duty.
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The Clark discourse is a monsoon that will only heighten substantially over a objectively bad sequence such as this from Thomas and the officials. If the WNBA wants to show itself as an objective proprietor that shows no favor, it has to suspend Thomas for a game. If it does not, the league is inviting more moments like this against more players than just Clark. Not suspending Thomas opens the door for all kinds of illegal contact if you can get it past the refs.
If the league wants to push back on the always simmering arguments that the officiating is biased against Clark or the league has some sort of vendetta against her because of her popularity and abrasive attitude, here’s its best chance yet to show that it treats all players equally. In any case, it shouldn’t matter if it was Clark or a developmental contract player having their neck pressed on by Thomas. It’s wrong no matter who it involves. You have to suspend her for a game. You have no choice; it’s a moral obligation to uphold the integrity of the game.
A just league calls balls and strikes without favoritism, no matter how great or popular you are. Thomas is a great player, but she’s not and never should be above the rules and the decency required of all athletes. She stepped over the line with what she did to Clark on Wednesday night; not suspending her for a game would send an awful message about what the WNBA is willing to do to protect all of its players against dangerous acts like this.
It doesn’t matter that this happened to Clark specifically; it matters that it happened at all. The decision is obvious; the call needs to come quickly. If the WNBA doesn’t suspend Thomas for this, it can only blame itself for the fallout.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: The WNBA must suspend Alyssa Thomas for Caitlin Clark incident | Opinion
