{"id":6209,"date":"2026-07-17T04:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6209"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:09:14","slug":"silver-says-caitlin-clark-has-become-a-political-football-amid-wnba-officiating-debates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6209","title":{"rendered":"Silver says Caitlin Clark has become a \u2018political football\u2019 amid WNBA officiating debates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Conversations about WNBA officiating and Caitlin Clark have now expanded to include NBA commissioner Adam Silver.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6207\">NBA \u2018continuing to look into\u2019 circumstances regarding Bucks\u2019 signing of Gary Trent Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Silver said Thursday that Clark has become a \u201cpolitical football\u201d amid debates about officiating and physical play in the WNBA, spurred by a recent play involving the star guard and Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, the issues around Caitlin Clark are not largely about officiating,\u201d Silver said, \u201cand that particular incident is not about whether a foul should have been called at the time in the game or whether that was ultimately a flagrant on review.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He made the remarks during an onstage conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Game Plan Summit, presented by CNBC and Boardroom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have come to know Caitlin really well,\u201d Silver added. \u201cShe\u2019s an incredible player and also an incredible person. And she wants to focus on being the best player she can. She has become a bit of a political football in this country, and I think it\u2019s incredibly unfair to her. I don\u2019t think that issue is ultimately about officiating. It\u2019s become political ping-pong with her. And she\u2019s a young woman who\u2019s trying to improve her game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6205\">NCDHHS works to identify source of cyclospora outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The play Silver referred to happened during a June 24 game between the Fever and Mercury when Thomas made contact with her fist to Clark\u2019s throat in the second quarter. Thomas was not called for a foul on the play during the game, but the league subsequently upgraded the play to a flagrant foul and suspended her one game for \u201crecklessly making contact with her fist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas later said the play was an accident. She has said she received death threats and has been called racial slurs after the incident, also criticizing WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect the league\u2019s players.<\/p>\n<p> Clark and Fever coach Stephanie White have condemned threats levied at Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Since she entered the league, Clark has helped significantly increase WNBA ticket sales and television ratings. However, many conversations around her have centered on polarizing topics, including race, officiating and politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t even think it\u2019s fair to her that this has become a separate storyline about one foul,\u201d Silver said, adding: \u201cDo we need to improve WNBA officiating? No doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6204\">Giannis arrives in Miami, looking to follow Messi\u2019s path to more titles and success<\/a><\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP WNBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Conversations about WNBA officiating and Caitlin Clark have now expanded to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Silver says Caitlin Clark has become a \u2018political football\u2019 amid WNBA officiating debates - 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