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It’s been more than a week since the Phoenix Mercury<\/a> took down Caitlin Clark’s<\/a> Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas\u00a0<\/a>stole the spotlight after an incident with the Fever’s point guard, putting her fist on Clark’s throat\u00a0<\/a>during a scuffle for a loose ball. The WNBA<\/a> retroactively suspended Thomas with a flagrant 2 foul, and while the decision was polarizing, the aftermath was even worse.<\/p>\n Thomas recently called out WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for failing to protect the players, adding that she’s gotten death threats\u00a0<\/a>and hate speech over a basketball play. That’s why even Fever head coach Stephanie White stepped up to defend Thomas.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to address what\u2019s going on with (Thomas),\u201d White\u00a0said<\/a>, via Alissa Hirsh of The Chicago Sun-Times. \u201cFirst and foremost, it\u2019s absolutely unacceptable. As a league as a whole, there\u2019s been so much more toxicity, racism, homophobia, straight-out nonsense. Hate nonsense. It is absolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Fever coach also accused people of using Caitlin Clark to promote hateful agendas, claiming that they couldn’t be real WNBA fans.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of this (is) coming from the online community. Most of this, in my heart of hearts, I believe (is) not coming from WNBA fans, Indiana Fever fans. I believe this is people who are using our league, using our players, to further divisive agendas. It\u2019s not acceptable,\u201d added White. \u201cBut it\u2019s not hard to not be a jerk. If you are one of these people who are online doing this, do not call yourself a WNBA fan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n White knows Thomas pretty well. She coached her with the Connecticut Sun<\/a> for two years. While Thomas has a history of some dirty plays, she knows her character and what she stands for.<\/p>\n And even if Thomas’ play was dirty or even if she meant to hurt Clark \u2014which would be almost impossible to prove \u2014 there’s no room in sports for that type of hate speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\nIndiana Fever<\/a> on June 24.<\/p>\nFever HC Stephanie White defends Alyssa Thomas after suspension<\/h2>\n
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