Caitlin Clark and Saniya Rivers were assessed a double technical foul when the two exchanged words after a foul late in the third quarter during Wednesday’s game between the Fever and the Sun. It was the seventh technical of the season for Clark, which moves her to the brink of an automatic one-game suspension.
The Fever superstar guard was fouled as Indiana led by 28 with just under 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Clark was defended by Rivers and then absorbed some contact from Olivia Nelson-Ododa, which led to a whistle from the official.
After the play, Clark threw the ball to a referee and she started to have some words with Rivers. The broadcast caught Clark tell Rivers to “check the scoreboard” as the Fever were in front 95–67 in a game which Indiana won 123–88.
You can watch the full sequence below:
The victory marked Indiana’s third win in a row and moved the team to 17–10 as it enters the WNBA All-Star break. Clark has been on a heater which continued against the Sun as she led the Fever with 27 points and 11 assists. It was a franchise scoring record for the Fever with 123 points as Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell combined for 45 points on top of Clark’s 27.
On Friday against the Storm, Clark recorded the first 40-point, 10-assist game in WNBA history in one of the most dominant all-around performances we’ve ever seen. She finished the game with 45 points and 10 assists with four steals and two blocks, making a clutch defensive play that helped swing the contest in the Fever’s favor.
However, she’s tied with Angel Reese for the league lead in technical fouls which will impact her availability if she’s called for another.
WNBA players receive a fine for each technical foul, but an automatic one-game suspension is triggered at the eighth technical call. Since Clark received her seventh technical foul of the season on Wednesday, she will be subjected to a one-game suspension if she receives one more technical. Indiana has 17 games left in its regular-season schedule.
Once a player reaches eight technical fouls in a season, a one-game suspension applies for every other technical foul that follows No. 8. Should Clark reach eight technicals, she would then be subject to another one-game suspension if she reaches 10, 12 and so on.
Technical foul counts reset for the playoffs. According to Front Office Sports, the first and second technical fouls come with a $500 fine, the third comes with a $1,000 fine and a letter from the league, then the fourth is a $1,500 and an automatic one-game suspension.
Clark received her sixth technical foul of the regular season in the Fever’s previous game for barking at the refs after she was taken to the ground on a screen by Liberty center Jonquel Jones. The contact wasn’t called a foul, which Clark took exception to and let the ref know about it.
On July 15 against the Valkyries, she got away unscathed for blowing up at an official when she came up limping after a no-call. Clark was upset at the missed call and the ref likely agreed with her since she wasn’t given a technical after the fiery exchange.
Now at seven technical fouls after Wednesday’s win over Connecticut, she must steer clear of any chaos for 17 games to avoid an automatic one-game suspension. Whether a suspension is inevitable, Clark told The Athletic’s James Boyd postgame that, “you got to ask the magic eight ball.”
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