INDIANAPOLIS — Remember Reggie Miller’s eight points in nine seconds? Well, it seems like Indiana is a magnet for chaos in a short span of time.
Six technicals were given in eight seconds during the Indiana Fever’s 86-77 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Monday.
The madness started with 7:57 left in the fourth.
With the Fever holding a 73-56 lead, Fever guard Caitlin Clark committed a personal foul on DeWanna Bonner with 7:57 remaining in the fourth as she tried to defend Bonner’s post-up at the elbow.
Bonner turned aggressively to get Clark’s body off of her. Clark proceeded to chirp at the Mercury forward, and ex-teammate.
Clark said the referee gave her a technical for “clapping” and “instigating” during the skirmish. The third-year guard added she’s “disappointed” in the refs and insinuated they don’t like “competitive basketball” because of their reason. Clark also questioned why other Mercury players who were clapping didn’t get a technical.
“It’s ridiculous, I got a technical for clapping. We should all go on the calendar now and pick a game I’m going to be suspended for if I’m going to get technicals for clapping,” Clark said. “If any technical should be taken away, it should be that one. If it’s truly for clapping, it’s just ridiculous.”
Buy 2026 Indiana Fever tickets!
Clark has five technical fouls this season. A player receives a one-game suspension once they obtain eight technical fouls.
“I’m going to play with emotion, I’m going to play with passion, and if they’re going to give me a technical foul for clapping, then so be it,” Clark said. “That’s their choice.”
As Clark raised her hand and prompted the crowd to cheer following her spat with Bonner, Myisha Hines-Allen and Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas stood face-to-face and got into a heated exchange.
Clark soon thereafter realized she received a technical. As she debated the decision with the refs, Bonner and Sophie Cunningham were at odds. This battle included their index fingers more than their mouths.
The two pointed at each other for a period of time after the words were spoken. Cunningham won that battle, holding her point for roughly 10 seconds while looking at Bonner, who was making her case with the officials.
The refs gave offsetting technical fouls to Hines-Allen and Thomas, and Cunningham and Bonner. Hines-Allen pushed Thomas as she drove to the basket with 7:49 left in the fourth, earning her a second technical and an ejection.
“If you heard what you know people called Myisha, then you would probably have been thrown out too, and how she reacted was valid,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham was ejected for pulling Jacy Sheldon’s hair last season after the former Connecticut Sun guard poked Clark in the eye. Cunningham credited her love for her teammates and a desire to see them succeed as the reasons behind her protective nature.
Cunningham added the fourth-quarter clash was “just basketball,” and believes the Fever “did a really good job of sticking up for our teammates and then dialing back in and getting the dub.”
Coach Stephanie White said she didn’t see the first interaction between Hines-Allen and Thomas because she was talking to the referees about Clark and Bonner’s rift. White praised the officials for “getting it under control.”
“As a group, we have to be able to have our moment, and then regroup and play with poise and composure,” White said. “Sometimes losing our poise and composure looks like that. Sometimes losing our poise and composure looks like breakdowns, turnovers, and for us, we’ve got to continue to grow in those moments.”
The Fever will host the Mercury on Wednesday. Cunningham is ready to turn the page and implored the Fever to focus on closing games like they did Monday.
“Sometimes that’s part of the game,” Cunningham said. “We could have stopped it a little bit sooner, but at the end of the day, we kept our heads. We finished the ball game well, and that’s what we need to do moving forward.”
Why DeWanna Bonner left the Indiana Fever
Bonner was a marquee acquisition for the Fever for the 2025 season. But she was waived after 14 games, playing in nine, and missing the last five of her tenure due to “personal reasons.”
She previously played three seasons for Fever coach Stephanie White when they were with the Connecticut Sun.
“First and foremost, you know, obviously you’re disappointed that things didn’t work out,” White said Thursday. “I love DB. I mean, DB is somebody that I have so much respect for. She’s a Hall of Famer, and while I’m disappointed, I always, first and foremost want her to be happy, and so I’m thankful for the time that we’ve had and certainly want her to be happy and wish her the best.”
Bonner was a coveted free agent in the 2025 offseason. Her 16 years of experience and status as the most experienced player in WNBA playoff history made her, on paper, a great fit as a veteran leader on a team with a young core like the Fever.
She struggled on the court at the beginning of the season, though, scoring just 10 total points over the first four games of the season in the starting lineup. Bonner eventually moved to come off the bench, and Lexie Hull joined the starting lineup to give the Fever a spark defensively.
Fever GM Amber Cox said Bonner felt like she wasn’t a good fit on the team from the beginning of the season. Indiana tried a variety of lineups and rotations in an attempt to find a spot for her, but they could never get to a place where she felt comfortable in her role.
“I think as we were going through the process, it felt better for her to step away as we were sorting through what it was going to look like, if it could be a return, exploring a trade,” Cox said. “It wasn’t a decision any of us made lightly, so it was a lot of conversations, and again, as we got into that process, we knew when we were exploring a trade that (Bonner on the Fever) was not something that was going to last the duration of the season.”
Joshua Heron is an enterprise and Fever reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @HeronReports. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 6 techs, 8 seconds involving Caitlin Clark, DeWanna Bonner in Fever win vs Mercury
Reporting by Joshua Heron, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Joshua Heron, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
