Chicago Is Committing Flagrant Fouls Against Caitlin Clark At a Sky High Rate
Indiana Fever rookie icon Caitlin Clark was on the receiving end of two flagrant fouls from the Chicago Sky on Friday.
One of these flagrant fouls came in the third quarter of Indiana's 100-81 win over Chicago, when Sky guard Michaela Onyenwere didn't give Clark free space to land after shooting a three, which is called a reckless closeout and ground for an automatic flagrant call.
While Onyenwere's closeout was initially called a common foul, the play went to review and was ultimately deemed a flagrant.
Caitlin Clark had to lobby the refs to review the foul for what was a clear flagrant 1. These refs need to be better pic.twitter.com/sCeyraQJWI
— correlation (@nosyone4) August 31, 2024
The second flagrant foul on Clark came from Sky guard Diamond DeShields, who barreled into the 22-year-old during a fast break in the fourth quarter.
Caitlin Clark got laid out for the 2nd game in a row pic.twitter.com/GxqPwPZf7n
— WNBA Rookie Watch (@WNBARookieWatch) August 31, 2024
While DeShields' flagrant was definitely unnecessary, neither of these fouls would be particular concerning by themselves.
But after Friday's two flagrant fouls, the Chicago Sky have committed four flagrants on Caitlin Clark during the 2024 WNBA regular season.
This is an average of one flagrant foul per game between Indiana and Chicago. It also marks 80% of the flagrant fouls Clark has been subject to this season (with the one exception being another reckless closeout by Los Angeles Sparks player Aari McDonald), and 13.8% of every flagrant foul committed in the WNBA this season, per acrossthetimeline.com.
Yes, you read that right. Nearly 14% of the WNBA's total flagrant fouls this season are ones the Chicago Sky have committed on Caitlin Clark.
In addition to the flagrant on Onyenwere and DeShields last night, Sky rookie Angel Reese also whacked Clark on the head while she took a layup in a June 16, 2024 game.
After review, Angel Reese called for a flagrant 1 for this foul against Caitlin Clark pic.twitter.com/xziAPf6ZGp
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 16, 2024
And the most malicious of them all was when Sky guard Chennedy Carter shoulder-checked Clark to the ground during a June 1, 2024 game.
The WNBA confirmed that Chennedy Carter’s foul on Caitlin Clark from yesterday’s game has been upgraded to a Flagrant 1, per @alexaphilippou.pic.twitter.com/o7QzaFRkL5
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) June 2, 2024
None of this is to say that the Sky has a New Orleans Saints-esque bounty on Clark or anything else of that nature.
But one flagrant per game indicates an alarming amount of unnecessary contact toward the WNBA's biggest needle-mover, who fans and league officials are hoping can remain healthy and on the court.
Thankfully for Fever fans and their beloved rookie, the Sky and Fever don't play each other anymore in 2024.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.