Mercury coach says Alyssa Thomas incident with Caitlin Clark wasn’t a ‘cheap shot’

· Yahoo Sports

The Phoenix Mercury are playing without six-time All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas on Saturday after she was given a one-game suspension by the WNBA following an incident with Indiana Fever All-Star guard Caitlin Clark.

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During Wednesday night’s game between the two teams — in which the Mercury won 111-109 — Thomas landed on Clark, pushed her fist into Clark’s throat, then stepped over her. No foul was called during the play, but the WNBA said Thomas "recklessly" made contact with Clark and "committed a non-basketball act” in its statement about the suspension on Thursday.

Ahead of the Mercury’s game against the Toronto Tempo on Saturday, Phoenix head coach Nate Tibbetts spoke about the suspension for the first time. He defended Thomas and blasted the WNBA’s process, while also throwing a bit of shade toward Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White.

“The people in this league know who AT is. She's a competitor, she's a winner and she's tough. The one thing she is not is cheap,” Tibbetts said. “To say that we had two cheap shots in that game, to me, is ridiculous. Steph knows AT, she got the opportunity to coach AT for two years, and she knows what AT stands for and what she's about.”

White coached Thomas for two seasons with the Connecticut Sun. They both left the organization ahead of the 2025 season, with White taking the Fever job and Thomas landing in Phoenix via trade. In her postgame press conference after the Fever's loss to the Mercury, White characterized the incident between Thomas and Clark as a "cheap shot" and later called it "disrespectful" and "crazy."

Tibbetts and White have been coaching together under Kara Lawson’s Team USA staff for the past several months in camps and at the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament. Both are expected to be on Lawson’s staff when Team USA heads to Germany in September for the World Cup. Clark and Thomas could both potentially be on that team, too.

In his pregame press conference Saturday, Tibbets continued by expressing his disappointment in the WNBA's leadership.

“This was not a thorough investigation in my opinion,” Tibbetts said. “The people involved were not questioned at all. It's extremely disappointing. No one from the league called AT, our security team or myself about what we felt like happened in this situation. There is a protocol to be followed.”

Tibbetts also not-so-subtly questioned if Clark would be suspended if the roles were reversed, implying that the WNBA acted simply because of the public backlash.

“The goal is to clean up our game, but I do think it's important not to rely on social media screenshots. This is a slippery slope,” Tibbetts said. “React to situations like this with consistency. Let's not base it on generational talent, fan base involvement, All-Star level players or role players. Let's don't base it off veterans or young players, or white players or Black players, or international players. If this is the standard, make this the standard, even if the roles were reversed in this situation.”

Tibbetts, 49, is in his third season coaching the Mercury. The team made the Finals last season, losing to the Las Vegas Aces.

Before coming to the WNBA, Tibbetts had been a head coach in the NBA’s G-League for four seasons, then served as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Orlando Magic.

The Mercury (6-13) host the Fever (10-8) again on July 9 in the final regular season matchup between the two teams.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mercury coach says Alyssa Thomas incident with Caitlin Clark wasn’t a ‘cheap shot’

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