WNBA suspends Alyssa Thomas one game after Caitlin Clark throat contact

The WNBA suspended Alyssa Thomas for one game after her fist made contact with Caitlin Clark's throat during the Phoenix Mercury's game against the Indiana Fever. The league later upgraded the play to a Flagrant 2 and said the contact was a non-basketball act, turning a missed live whistle into a formal discipline case.

The incident came with 6:52 left in the second quarter on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Indianapolis. No foul was called at the time, but the league acted the next day, Thursday, June 25, and Thomas is scheduled to serve the suspension on June 27 when the Mercury visit the Toronto Tempo.

The penalty is Thomas's first suspension in 13 WNBA seasons, a notable mark for one of the league's most durable veterans. It also lands under a rules system that tracks flagrant fouls by points, with an automatic one-game suspension triggered at four total points, a structure that puts pressure on officials and the league office to be consistent when dangerous contact slips through in real time.

Indiana coach Stephanie White publicly ripped the sequence after the game, calling the play a cheap shot and describing it as "egregious and utterly disrespectful." Her criticism came against the backdrop of a physical loss for the Fever, who fell 111-109 to Phoenix in the rematch at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Caitlin Clark added another layer to the evening's context. She had 19 points and eight assists before leaving in the third quarter with a back issue, deepening the concern for Indiana after a game that already featured a hard, missed foul call and a postgame suspension. For the league, the ruling underscored how quickly its visibility now meets its enforcement standards, especially when a high-profile player is involved and the physicality crosses into conduct the WNBA itself labeled non-basketball.