INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever have appealed Caitlin Clark’s technical foul from Monday night’s game, the team confirmed to IndyStar on Wednesday.
The Athletic reported Wednesday morning that the league had decided it will not rescind Clark’s tech, which was her fifth of the season. A Fever spokesperson told IndyStar directly following that report, however, that the team had not heard back from the league, so they still considered the matter “an open process,” and that “we’re going to fight for our player.”
The league then clarified Wednesday afternoon that it had not yet made a final decision on whether it will rescind Clark’s technical foul. A WNBA spokesperson provided this statement to IndyStar:
“As per WNBA policy, after each game the league reviews all technical fouls. Teams have the ability to provide additional information to the league and request a called technical foul to be overturned. We are in the process of reviewing a request from the Indiana Fever submitted today to rescind Caitlin Clark’s technical foul assessed at 07:57 of the fourth period during Monday night’s game against the Phoenix Mercury.”
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Clark picked up her fifth technical foul of the season after she and Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner, a former Fever player who played just nine games in 2025 before requesting a trade and leaving the team, got tangled up near the free-throw line.
Bonner and Clark exchanged some words but were quickly separated, and Clark emphatically clapped while the referees were trying to deescalate the situation. Referee Gerda Gatling then called the technical foul on Clark, and Clark immediately turned to plead her case.
“I’m gonna play with emotion, I’m gonna play with passion, and if they’re going to give me a technical foul for clapping, then so be it. That’s their choice,” Clark said postgame. “The league can come back and review that play, and I’d love to hear what they say of the reasoning of why I got the technical foul in that situation … I said ‘Why’d you get me a technical foul?’ and she said because I was clapping and instigating. I said ‘OK then, you just don’t like competitive basketball,’ and that’s just facts, that’s just reality. So, I’m disappointed in them.”
While Clark was talking to the officials, the situation escalated again, with Bonner and Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas exchanging words with Fever players Sophie Cunningham and Myisha Hines-Allen. Offsetting techs were eventually called on Bonner and Cunningham, as well as Thomas and Hines-Allen. Bonner took a technical free throw because of Clark’s tech, which didn’t offset, and she missed.
Clark maintained postgame that she did not agree with the tech, which puts her three away from a league-mandated one-game suspension, at all.
“It’s ridiculous,” Clark said following the Fever’s 86-77 win over Phoenix. “I got a technical for clapping. We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m going to be suspended for if I’m gonna get technicals for clapping … if any technical should be taken away, it should be that one, if it’s truly for clapping, that’s what they said they gave it to me for was for clapping. It’s just ridiculous, so I don’t understand it at all.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. 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: Indiana Fever ‘going to fight’ for Caitlin Clark, appealing technical foul vs Mercury
Reporting by Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
