Caitlin Clark now 2 technical fouls away from automatic WNBA suspension

Caitlin Clark achieved a WNBA milestone in the Indiana Fever’s 92–75 win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday, breaking the rookie record for assists in a season set by Ticha Penicheiro in 1998.

However, something else happened in the game that looms over the Fever’s remaining 12 games of the regular season. Clark picked up a technical foul midway through the third quarter for hitting the backstop behind the basket in frustration after missing a 3-pointer.

The call itself was questionable. Clark was emotional and acted out, but not against another player or an official. Yet players have been whistled for technicals for actions such as slamming the basketball down or kicking the scorer’s table, so this wasn’t an outlandish call.

However, the technical foul is important because it was Clark’s fifth of the season. And that puts her closer to an automatic suspension.

In the WNBA, a player draws a one-game penalty after accumulating seven technical fouls in a season. Subsequently, another suspension is issued for every other technical received from there (i.e., No. 9, No. 11, No. 13, etc.).

Following Sunday’s game, Clark told reporters that the referee said her outburst was “disrespectful to the game of basketball.”

“It reminded me of the technical I got in college where I said, ‘Damn it,'” Clark said. “It’s like a personal frustration, had nothing to do with my team, had nothing to do with the reffing, had nothing to do with the other team. It was just because I’m a competitor and I felt like I should’ve been making more shots.”

“But I think he fired me up to continue to play a lot harder,” she added. “I think we got a lot better after he did that. So I want to thank him for that.”

Seattle closed the margin to within one point by the end of the third quarter, but perhaps the Fever would’ve fallen behind during that stretch had they not been motivated by the technical foul, as Clark viewed it. Indiana finally began to pull away with six minutes remaining in the game, leading to a 14-point win.

Sunday’s win improved the Fever’s record to 13–15, placing them seventh in the WNBA. Eight teams make the playoffs, so Indiana is currently in position to make the postseason. Yet if Clark ends up missing one (or more) of the team’s remaining 12 games, that could jeopardize its chances.

Clark is currently the Fever’s leading scorer (17.8 per game), leads the WNBA in assists (8.3 per game), tops the team in steals (1.4) and is the team’s third-leading rebounder (5.8). That’s a huge amount of production to take out of the lineup for a game, especially when every one of them will likely count as the regular season nears its end.