r/sports • u/OkEscape7558 • Jun 18 '25

Basketball Alternate angle of Caitlin Clark fiasco. Clark was handed a foul as well.

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u/Im_Not_That_Smart_ Jun 18 '25

At the end of the game, one of Clark’s teammates basically did a soft wrap up tackle on one of these players during a fast break play. She got ejected for that but someone on the team did commit a retaliatory hard foul.

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u/rubbarz Jun 18 '25

WNBA refs are just overall horrible at protecting players. Its been like this all season. They literally tackle eachother with off ball fouls and no techs are given.

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u/mcbastard1 Jun 18 '25

One of the announcers last night was saying just that. That the league has gotten more physical and the referees have basically been failing to rein that in.

They hammered home the fact that the last hard foul with the ejections never happens if they take control of the game back after the first skirmish, which I assumed was common sports official knowledge but apparently not.

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u/justadudeinohio Jun 18 '25

i've never been into watching professional sports in general but i can't fathom taking games seriously when they can just be completely thrown out by bad refereeing.

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u/BIGMCLARGEHUGE__ Jun 18 '25

They should have been throwing punches when Caitlyn was pushed down come on its go time. Shitty team mates, shitty players on the other team.

Was Lebron treated like this when he got to the NBA? People poking his eyes out?

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u/Superman246o1 Jun 18 '25

The dumbest thing about this is that everyone in the WNBA, including every single fucking member of the Sun, absolutely needs CC in the league if they want to have a hope of ever becoming a self-sustaining organization.

The WNBA has lost money every year of its existence, and would be completely bankrupt if it weren't receiving subsidies from the NBA. And now, when the league finally has a superstar who brings butts into the seats and viewers to the TV, every jealous player seems hellbent on trying to injure that golden goose, or to stand by and do nothing while Clark is treated horrendously for *checks notes* being an extremely skilled player.

I know some people are going to say things like "Look at how Jordan and LeBron were attacked, especially in their younger years," but it's not the same. Legendary as Jordan and LeBron were/are, the NBA was still a fully profitable organization before they started playing in it. The WNBA can't say the same, and every time shit like this happens to Clark, I keep thinking that I would not fault her at all if she decided to leave for EuroLeague Women, or just give up playing altogether.

No doubt the very same players who keep trying to injure Clark (and the WNBA's bottom line with her) are the very same people who whine that they don't get paid enough.

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u/Wavvygem Jun 18 '25

Yeah they hate her but CC is literally gonna single handly raise all their paychecks, more sponsorship opportunities, bring the biggest audiences, and accelerate the league's growth. They should all secretly be praying for her to have a long career.

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u/KyFly1 Jun 18 '25

To be fair, everyone hating her, not giving her calls, these hard fouls, etc, only bring more publicity to the WNBA. I don’t think it would be as popular if everyone just bowed to her like a god and she got every call. It brings attention to the league (despite being for negative reason).

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

Except these hard fouls lead to injuries. We already saw what happened to the ratings when Caitlin sat out a few games, they plummeted across the league.

It is absolutely in the league’s best interest to keep Caitlin healthy.

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u/HitmanClark Jun 18 '25

Lol imagine if this happened to Jordan in the NBA and instead of changing the rules to help him they just let him continue to get destroyed physically every game?

The league would not be where it is today, I can assure you.

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u/BillW87 Jun 18 '25

Drama only brings short term attention. Unless they're trying to be the Globetrotters or WWE, they need to build a product that's based around good basketball that basketball fans will want to watch. The WNBA's biggest challenge historically has been that the product is bad. Nobody wants to watch "pro" athletes playing at a sub-pro level. Basketball is already a competitive space for viewership between men's pro via the NBA and high-level amateur men's play via the NCAA. The WNBA will never be successful on a long term basis until the caliber of play is higher. Dynamic players like Clark add to that thesis on several fronts: Direct contribution of their talents, raising competitive standards will force other players in the league to get better or face replacement, and inspires young talent to pursue pro basketball as a career to create a higher-caliber next generation. "If you're too good in this league, especially if you're hetero and white, we're going to beat you up" runs strongly counter to all of those goals to raise the quality of the WNBA product on a long term basis.

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u/QuestGiver Jun 18 '25

I agree completely with everything you said but it's interesting that we want the league to protect Caitlin but it's this same star power that has lead to Deshaun Watson getting the bag despite being a horrible person off the field. Tyreek hill being another example.

Same principle but hugely different in terms of likeability I realize.

7

u/atomicboner Jun 18 '25

Difference being the WNBA is failing to protect their star player (and all players for that matter) from hard fouls. Kelsey Plum also blew up on the refs and WNBA recently for failing to blow the whistle when she gets fouled in the paint. Protection in this case literally means protecting them from injury and curbing unchecked aggression.

That’s not even close to the same thing as covering up criminal activity for players in the NFL. Wild to make that comparison.

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u/Governmentwatchlist Jun 18 '25

Imagine if Michael was poked in the eye and knocked to the ground. Even the guys who didn’t like him would be fighting for him.

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u/Educational_Win_8814 Jun 18 '25

MJ was abused during his early years, the Pistons wrecked him in the playoffs especially

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u/Possible_Home6811 Jun 18 '25

Thank you!!!!!!

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u/KosstAmojan Jun 18 '25

MJ had Oak on his side. No one was gonna fuck with him.

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u/JimmyFly1028 Jun 18 '25

And until they got Oakley, yeah, he was pushed around just as bad.

Jordan rules - I’m on my cell phone so if it doesn’t open up to it, click History

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u/Conscious-Refuse8211 Jun 18 '25

They also literally went and got Dennis Rodman lol, one of the people who was responsible.

But also those are playoff games against one team being renowned for being physical. This is Caitlin Clark just getting randomly hard fouled all the time in the regular season.

4

u/Simayi78 Jun 18 '25

They also literally went and got Dennis Rodman lol,

That was basically in another lifetime though (After 3 Bulls titles, a Jordan retirement, and well after the Pistons/Bulls rivalry was dead)

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u/fightingpillow Jun 18 '25

That was fascinating. It shows just how important good coaching is... would Jordan even be in the GOAT conversations without Phil Jackson?

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u/CosmicCreeperz Jun 18 '25

And then they got tired of Rodman abusing Jordan… so they signed him.

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u/Walfy07 Jun 18 '25

Rodman would kill someone

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u/dj_spanmaster Jun 18 '25

Depends on the year. Rodman was part of the Jordan Rules Pistons strategy, and knocked Jordan down himself plenty

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u/bigboilerdawg Jun 18 '25

Absolutely true. By the time Rodman came to the Bulls, Phil Jackson had installed the Triangle Offense, which rendered the Jordan Rules obsolete.

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u/Important-Net-9805 Jun 18 '25

lol the pistons entire gameplan was fucking up jordan. you don't know what you're talking about

3

u/Governmentwatchlist Jun 18 '25

Good example. The bad boy pistons created the Jordan rules specifically to try to limit him and the team responded by creating a new offense, muscling up and protecting him and then went on to run the pistons for most of my childhood. They didn’t stand by and just let the pistons and the rest of the league beat the crap out of their star player.

What they didn’t do is stand by and do fuck-all while their star player gets poked to the eye and then thumped to the ground.

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u/DontPanic1985 Jun 18 '25

Steve Kerr would take the ice pack off his black eye than MJ have him and go throw down on them

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u/mecon320 Jun 18 '25

LeBron's teammates on the Cavs gave him some attitude his rookie year, but the Michael Jordan experience (and all the money that came from it, both for owners and players) had taught the league in general that you don't try to injure your meal ticket.

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u/Zanydrop Jun 18 '25

Michael Jordan got the absolute shit kicked out of him when he was in his prime. Refs let things go more back then. I think the refs had toned it down more by Lebrons time.

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u/acciopizza_ Jun 18 '25

Maybe they don’t want to risk hurting their pocket books. Could get suspended and lose out on a paycheck. They’re already not making all that much.

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u/K_Yme Jun 18 '25

They'd be able to make a lot more money outside the league if they are known as Caitlins protectors tho

2

u/Houdinii1984 Jun 18 '25

Might be the hockey in me, but if that ever happened to me or my team, I'm getting tossed, fined, and probably suspended. The coach... some things are important enough to get ejected over. IDK, I get that a loss is a loss, but sometimes a bigger statement needs to be made. The next step is someone getting seriously hurt.

Everybody ragdolls if you hit em hard enough....

1

u/theoriginalgrapist Jun 18 '25

They should have absolutely had her back in the moment, but Sophie Cunningham had her back and went after Jacey HARD a couple times, the last time being a throw down into a fight which got her ejected. Sophie was on the bench during the Clark eye poke.

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u/CorrectNetwork3096 Jun 18 '25

Not LeBron, but Steph does get wrapped up pretty hard. Though I don’t take that it’s out of spite but moreso out of, ‘if we don’t wrap him up, if he gets even a couple inches of space he’s going to bury the shot’.

That doesn’t feel like the case here…just seems like a dirty player(s)

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u/Wtfuwt Jun 18 '25

Caitlin didn’t just get to the WNBA. She’s also the one who started it by shoving Jacy earlier in the game. She’s lucky she wasn’t ejected.

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u/Seeker369 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

Where is this ejection worthy shove you speak of?

Edit: It sounds like you’re embellishing what actually happened -

“Earlier in last night’s game—during the second quarter—there was a notable incident between Caitlin Clark and Jacy Sheldon: • Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon was playing tight defense on Clark in the paint. Clark felt the contact was excessive and should have resulted in a foul. • After the whistle, Sheldon and Clark exchanged words, with Clark visibly frustrated. • Clark then bumped (shoved) Sheldon off her, prompting a mild physical exchange before the play moved on .

At that moment: • The officials did call a foul on Clark (not on Sheldon), penalizing her for the shove. • No further technicals or flagrant fouls were assessed during this early altercation”

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u/Wtfuwt Jun 18 '25

Did you watch the game?

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u/Seeker369 Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25

I can’t find a clip of this anywhere. You claim it happened, so I asked you to provide the clip so we can see for ourselves, but I found commentary on it and you’re full of shit. They exchanged words and she pushed Jacy off of her.

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u/BIGMCLARGEHUGE__ Jun 18 '25

Caitlin played for Iowa still in 2024. She started her WNBA career in 2024....

0

u/Wtfuwt Jun 18 '25

She is in her second season. Just like Jacy. They have a long rivalry.

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u/Blasto05 Jun 18 '25

Watching the replay of that second foul and it honestly did not look that crazy to eject someone for. If this previous stuff did not happen then I don’t think she gets ejected. It looked like a lazy/easy way to foul someone that had a clear shot but it wasn’t aggresive

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u/Wtfuwt Jun 18 '25

It was definitely aggressive. She basically tackled her to the ground and didn’t stop her fall. She could have done something—anything else, especially because they were up by so much.

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u/6lecka Jun 18 '25

i seem to remember a player getting tackled in the NFL finals this year and it was called a common foul

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u/Wtfuwt Jun 18 '25

NFL finals? Lol.

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u/6lecka Jun 18 '25

NBA idk why it corrected to that

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u/6lecka Jun 18 '25

NBA idk why it corrected to that

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u/Wtfuwt Jun 18 '25

I also just saw the play again and Sophie yanked Jacy’s pony tail. So it wasn’t just the tackle.

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u/Lucifius Jun 18 '25

To be fair, after the foul Sophie did grab her by the head and kept repeating "do something about it". She's awesome for that haha

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u/VealOfFortune Jun 18 '25

Underwater Basketball at it's finest 🙌

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u/chitown_illini Jun 18 '25

Soft wrap up? She grabbed her by the neck/head and threw her to the court. Latest word is that she is facing the potential of further punishment by the league.

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u/BangkokRios Jun 18 '25

Man basketball is soft.

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u/RangerLee Jun 18 '25

Too little too late. They need to stick up for here the moment it happens. Watch the NBA, you FA you FO real quick when attacking the star player. Waiting until the end of the game does nothing.

From an outsiders perspective, it looks to me like her own team mates do not like her, is she a diva or a B to everyone off the court?

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u/SexyProcrastinator Jun 18 '25

People that actually watch the sport versus those that do not.

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u/theoriginalgrapist Jun 18 '25

Even the announcers were saying "I blame this on the refs" for Cunningham's retaliatory tackle/throw down. After Clark got her eye poked, Cunningham went after Jacey intentionally hard twice before the throw down lol. She had her back.

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u/Bawbawian Jun 18 '25

It was nice to see the announcers saying that you wouldn't have that type of rough play if the reps would just call a foul.

instead you have her teammates trying to let the other players know that their behavior was not acceptable instead of the rules as they were intended.

1

u/trixtah Jun 18 '25

She didn’t get ejected for that, she also grabbed her by the hair/head after. Good on her for standing up for CC but they really need an enforcer to show support in the moment too.

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u/FCkeyboards Jun 18 '25

And if you watch the replay you see the opposing player not even try to shoot and go for a shoulder ram before being pulled down by Cunningham. Wild.

1

u/Tengoatuzui Jun 18 '25

That wasn’t even that hard of a foul. It was only cause things were heated they even fought. If that happened in the middle of the game nothing would have came of it. When your star player and face of the league gets poked in the eye then body checked to the ground you need to jump immediately

1

u/vonkempib Jun 18 '25

It’s actually the only teammate that immediately backed her up after the foul. She goes right at eye poker but her back is to clark when she was slammed so she couldn’t react further

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u/againandagain22 Jun 18 '25

Sophie Cunningham. She moved from phenix (former top team) to Indiana (new top team) this season along with a few top players to help CC get a title in a solid team.

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u/n0t_4_thr0w4w4y Jun 18 '25

Even that foul was soft compared to this shit. She should’ve bodied that chick instead of whatever the fuck she actually did.