Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said she has received death threats and been called racial slurs in the aftermath of her one-game suspension after she made contact with her fist to Caitlin Clark鈥檚 throat in against Indiana.
Thomas also criticized Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect the league’s players when she spoke with reporters on Tuesday at the team’s practice facility.
鈥淚t’s unfortunate that it’s come to this over basketball,” “A lot of us 鈥� myself included 鈥� didn’t even know the play took place until after the game. Now we’re being painted as thugs. There’s death threats out on us. It’s really unacceptable. It’s something that needs to change in this league and I’m just really sick and tired of it.鈥�
Engelbert released a statement Tuesday night.
鈥淭he WNBA vehemently condemns any and all forms of hate. The safety and well-being of everyone in our community is always the league鈥檚 top priority,” Engelbert said. “We are aware of Alyssa Thomas鈥� comments, and what she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community. The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all players.鈥�
Thomas called the play a 鈥渃omplete accident,” but said her main concern wasn’t the suspension. The six-time All-Star said she didn’t know she was being suspended until 10 minutes before it was released on social media.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not even about the suspension,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淚f that鈥檚 what they felt was necessary in that moment, then so be it. But I think there鈥檚 a lot of other plays that you can say the same about. The biggest thing is about our safety. We鈥檙e so concerned about the safety on the court, but time and time again, we鈥檙e having people threaten our lives. Leaking addresses out there. Putting crazy pictures that have nothing to do with basketball.鈥�
The play happened with 6:52 left in the second quarter in a game against Clark’s Indiana Fever on Wednesday and was deemed to be a non-basketball act. The league gave Thomas a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty for it.
No foul was called on the play by officials in the moment. The WNBA is allowed to review a game to reclassify a Flagrant foul or to classify as Flagrant any foul not called as such during a game.
“People are sending racial slurs and all types of stuff,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淭here’s a difference between trolling and there’s a difference between hatred. The hatred that we’re experiencing over a play that, honestly, was a complete accident, no one even knew it happened. It’s just unfortunate. The league has to do better in this instance.鈥�
Thomas and Engelbert exchanged text messages last week to talk about the security issue, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussion. The person said that Engelbert immediately directed league security to get in touch with Phoenix security once she heard about the threats.
Thomas served her suspension on Saturday when the Mercury visit the Toronto Tempo.
The Fever renewed their call for player safety in a statement on Thursday.
The two teams had played a few days before the Thomas-Clark incident and there were six technical fouls called and one ejection. Clark picked up her fifth technical of the season in that game. The team petitioned the league to have it rescinded, but the WNBA confirmed that the technical will stand.
鈥淚t was egregious. The fact that it was a no-call 鈥� You got to call it,鈥� Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e coming in here aware of what happened two nights ago and that (expletive) still happens? Absolutely unacceptable.鈥�
The Mercury and Fever play again on July 9 in Phoenix.
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AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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