Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark finally broke her silence about the incident involving her and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas last June 24th. That play has become the biggest discussion topic in the WNBA since it happened and while almost everyone has given their take on the matter, Clark had not spoken about it until now.
In an interview with reporters on Friday, Clark began by insisting that Thomas committed a flagrant foul and that the referees need to do better. However, she condemned the harassment and hate messages that Alyssa and her teammates have gotten since that incident, although she did not mention Thomas specifically.
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And although she called out the refs, she also appreciated the job they are doing.
“I know what you guys are gonna ask, and I do think it was a flagrant foul, and our reffing just needs to be better,” Clark said. “It’s tough. Obviously, the refs are in a really difficult spot. It’s one of the hardest jobs in the world, in my opinion, to make calls. All you do is get yelled at the whole time by everybody. You’re never winning. For us, the league’s just gotta do better protecting our players in that regard.”
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The league has to get better, too
It can be recalled that the referees, like many fans who watched the game live and on TV, did not notice in real time what Thomas did to Clark. It was only after the game that slow-motion replays and freeze-frame images showed Alyssa’s fist clearly on Caitlin’s throat.
Because of that, the league reviewed the play and, in an unprecedented move, changed the no-call and retroactively assessed Thomas with a Flagrant Foul 2, which resulted in her suspension for their next game. Alyssa criticized the WNBA for handling the issue and lamented that the commissioner didn’t even reach out to her or her team to get their side of the controversy.
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Caitlin agreed that the league needs to do better and even suggested that it might be time to make the referees employees of the WNBA.
“Overall, the league just has to do better. We have to invest in those areas; technology can get better; we can treat the referees a little bit better, pay them like they’re full-time employees,” she added.
The WNBA’s referees are just mere contractors
Crazy as it sounds, WNBA referees are not employees of the association. Instead, they are independent contractors who, like NBA refs, studied calling games by working games at the G League before getting invites to work in the “W.” And because they are not employees of the association, they are paid on a per-game basis.
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“Historically, the footprint of the season is much shorter,” said Sue Blauch, who is the head of referee performance and development for the WNBA, last year. “People are working various numbers of games depending on their skill level, depending on their years of service and their position. The pay structure is a little bit of a hybrid between per game and a sort of stipend for all of the other work.”
A rookie referee in the “W” earns an estimated $1,500 per game, while a 20-year veteran was paid $2,500 per game last season. In contrast, NBA refs are employed by the league and earn between $150,000 and $500,000 per season. As they say in any workplace, if employers treat their employees well and give them the salary that they deserve, they’re likely to perform better.
Maybe the WNBA revisits that topic too, now that CC has brought it up again.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jul 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
