The WNBA handed Alyssa Thomas a 1-game suspension for pressing her fist into Caitlin Clark's throat during the Mercury-Fever game on June 24, a Flagrant Foul 2 that somehow drew no whistle in real time. Thomas served the ban days later against the Toronto Tempo. On paper, that looks like the league doing its job. The problem is the story behind the story.
Adam Silver allegedly had To FORCE Cathy Engelbert to suspend Alyssa Thomas for assaulting Caitlin Clark after she wasn't planning to punish the choke artist at all
According to a Sports Business Journal report, Engelbert wasn't planning to suspend Thomas in the first place. Sources told SBJ she initially figured that since no foul was called on the floor, a suspension after the fact would be too harsh. It reportedly took Silver, the NBA commissioner, telling her the tape showed a clear flagrant act before the league office moved. A WNBA spokesperson has since called that account "absolutely false," and Silver himself has declined to confirm or deny it, saying only that relitigating the report publicly isn't fair to Clark or Engelbert.
That non-denial denial is exactly why this hasn't died down. Whether or not Silver literally had to talk Engelbert into it, the optics are brutal for a commissioner who has spent the season fielding complaints that the league is slow-walking discipline in Clark's most physical matchups. Barstool's reaction was blunt.
We need a new commissioner t.co/q855p2kX5p
Dave Portnoy, never one to undersell a grievance, took it further, turning up the volume with over-the-top language about Clark getting "assaulted" and predicting Engelbert would be "flying commercial again" soon enough.
Are we just gonna keep letting players ASSAULT Caitlin? I mean when is enough enough? This is borderline manslaughter in some states! Cathy will not be happy till shes crippled and outta the league! Have fun flying commercial again!
Worth separating fact from bit here: Portnoy's talk of "manslaughter" and Clark getting "crippled" is not a literal claim, it's Barstool doing what Barstool does, using the throat-jab suspension as a launching pad to pile on every no-call Clark has absorbed this season. But the underlying frustration is real and it's not just a Barstool thing anymore — Thomas herself has publicly accused Engelbert of staying silent while she received death threats after the suspension, which is its own mess for a commissioner already under fire.
Where this goes next probably isn't about Thomas at all. She's served her game, and the on-court incident is closed. The real fallout is about whether Engelbert can keep running a league where the NBA's own commissioner reportedly has to lean on her to enforce basic supplemental discipline, and where a star player is fielding threats with no public word from the top. If the pressure campaign Barstool is running keeps gaining traction, Engelbert's seat gets a lot hotter than one suspended game ever could.