Caitlin Clark made her return from injury to the WNBA on Saturday, but had to settle for a loss.
Clark’s Indiana Fever fell 107-104 to the Dallas Wings in their season opener, as Clark missed two late shots that could have tied the game.
After the game, Clark appeared to suggest certain fouls were not called on her throughout the game.
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“I think especially if they’re going to call it the way they’re going to call it this year, I think I honestly could have probably got a couple more calls on a few of them, but that’s okay,” Clark said to reporters after the game when asked about plays when she drove to the basket on Saturday.
Whether officials are calling enough fouls against Clark has been a point of controversy since she came into the WNBA in 2024, and many fans complained that Clark was frequently being targeted with hard contact by opposing players, and referees weren’t doing enough to protect her.
Clark herself has made other comments seemingly directed at referees in the WNBA.
During the WNBA postseason in September, while Clark was injured, she said she was fined $200 for tweeting “Refs couldn’t stop us” after Indiana’s Game 2 win over Atlanta in the first round.
“Got fined $200 for this lol,” she wrote on X, adding a series of crying laughter emojis. “BENCH MOB WILL BE EVEN MORE ROWDY TOMORROW LETS GOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
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Clark was previously seen getting into disagreements with referees during a game against the Connecticut Sun last July.
“Are you f—-ing kidding me?” Clark appeared to say as Fever assistant Briann January dragged her back to the bench.
As officials continued to look at the replay, the ESPN broadcast showed Clark yelling over toward the officials again.
“That’s just rude. Grow up,” she said. “Come here, come here. Unbelievable.”
Her coach and teammates have made similar comments as well.
After a controversial no-call during a play involving Caitlin Clark last May against the New York Liberty, Fever head coach Stephanie White lambasted WNBA referees for their officiating.
“I thought she got fouled. I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us the last few games,” White said of Clark. “The disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable. So, it’s disappointing, you know, that it doesn’t go both ways, or it hasn’t gone both ways.”
Fever star Sophie Cunningham also called out the way referees handle Clark to reporters last June, after a brawl against the Sun.
“During that, it was just part of the game. I think the refs had a lot to do with that. It was a build-up for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA,” Cunningham said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates. That’s what I do.”
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