The Indiana Fever received a warning from the WNBA for the way the team handled Caitlin Clark’s injury status during a game earlier this month. Now, it sounds like Clark and the team could be in trouble from the league yet again.
On Friday night, the Fever fell to the Golden State Valkyries 90-88 in what was a rematch of last week’s contentious showdown. Unlike last week’s game, where Clark led the way with a hot shooting performance, Clark struggled in what was the worst game of her season so far.
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Clark ended the contest with just 16 points, the lowest total of the season so far, while making just 25% of her shots from the floor. On top of the poor shooting, she also had five turnovers, with two of them coming in the final two minutes of the one-score game.
Following the game, Joseph Dycus of the Mercury News in San Francisco reported that Clark was not made available for interviews after the game. More than that, Dycus said he specifically asked to speak to the Fever star, but his request was denied.
“Caitlin Clark was not made available to the press after the Valkyries beat the Fever 90-88,” Dycus wrote in a post on X. “I asked Fever PR to talk to her, and they said she was not going to talk tonight.”
Unfortunately for Clark and the Fever, this decision not to speak to the media could lead to some punishment from the WNBA.
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Clark Faces Punishment
While Clark may not have wanted to speak to the media, players are contractually obligated to do so under the WNBA’s Media Access Policy.
“No later than 10 minutes following the game, each head coach and two players (leading scorer and key contributor) per team will be available in the separate press conference rooms for in-person and zoom media,” the WNBA policy states.
Clark, who led the Fever with 16 points, should have been made available to speak to the media after the game, according to the policy.
Players are often punished for skipping mandatory media availability. This often results in a fine, and penalties could potentially be steeper this season under the league’s updated collective bargaining agreement, as the new CBA reportedly allows fines of up to $10,000 for compliance-related violations.
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Back in 2024, Clark’s rival Angel Reese was fined $1,000 for refusing to speak to the media after a game against the Fever. Reese recently indicated that she could choose to take more fines this year rather than speak to the media at times.
The post Caitlin Clark faces up to $10,000 fine from WNBA appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
