Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark says she has changed how she talks to WNBA referees as she tries to steer clear of a one-game suspension heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
Clark has seven technical fouls this season, one short of the league’s automatic one-game suspension threshold. Under WNBA rules, a player receives an automatic one-game suspension after an eighth technical foul during the regular season, with additional suspensions triggered for every two technical fouls after that. Totals reset once the playoffs begin.
“I feel like the refs might also know I have seven technical fouls, so I always try to warn them,” Clark said. “Like, ‘I’m working with you. I’m working with you. Like, let’s have a conversation.'”
Clark said the shift has made her exchanges with officials less combative.
“I think it’s made my conversations with them more positive and more conversational in both ways for them and for me,” she said. “I mean, I think it’s certainly been, like, a conscious effort about it, and I think it’s helped me play better basketball. It’s just, like, focus on what I need to focus on, and let the last play go. Like, you can’t go back in time and change things.”
Clark briefly hit the eight-technical mark during an Aug. 8 win over the Chicago Sky, when she was called for a technical after contact with an official while going out of bounds. The league later rescinded that call, restoring her total to seven and removing the suspension.
With four regular-season games left, Clark said she actually only needs to avoid a technical foul in the first three. A technical in Indiana’s regular-season finale would not remove her from that game, and there would be no further regular-season game left for a suspension to apply before totals reset for the playoffs.
“I really only have three more games to go because the fourth game starts — if I get a technical, I’m not kicked out of the game — and then it resets for the playoffs,” Clark said.
Clark said the adjustment has given her confidence in how she’s handling the pressure.
“I’m really proud of myself, but still three games to go. And I think it’s helped me learn a lot about myself and the ways that I can impact my team, and, you know, how to communicate with the refs,” Clark said.
Clark’s run-ins with officials have been a recurring storyline throughout her WNBA career. She has frequently voiced frustration over calls and the physical defense directed at her, at times reacting visibly toward referees. She finished with six technical fouls in each of her first two seasons, one short of the league’s previous seven-technical suspension threshold in both years. During her rookie season, she said she needed to better control her reactions because Indiana relied on her being on the floor.
The Fever return from the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup break Friday to face the Toronto Tempo. Indiana will then host the Washington Mystics before closing the regular season with back-to-back games against the Minnesota Lynx.
Indiana entered the break at 26-14 and has already clinched a playoff berth, though its final seeding is still undecided. Clark rejoins the Fever after helping the United States win the World Cup in Berlin.
