The fallout continues from Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas shoving her fist into Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark’s throat, and now one of the league’s greatest players, Lisa Leslie, is giving her two cents.
Leslie was on CBS Sports’ “We Need To Talk” when the subject of officiating consistency came up following a statement made by Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts.
She started by noting that officiating is often a tough, thankless job, but that an official should’ve caught the incident between Thomas and Clark during the game.
CAITLIN CLARK SHOVED IN NECK DURING FEVER GAME AS ANOTHER APPARENT FOUL ON STAR GOES UNCALLED
“In this particular situation, I thought that the last official should have been able to catch that,” she said. “I was actually watching this game, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow — that was a bit much.”
That’s a fair point. If she could see the incident as a spectator, one of the officials probably should have spotted it too.
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She continued saying that while she’s not surprised by the result with Thomas getting a suspension, it was “tough” to her that the officials missed the call in the moment and that they didn’t look at a replay.
“I think, overall, the league has got to do better, the officials have got to do better, but also players — players have to clean it up,” she said. “We used to play in a way that we protected one another. Yeah, I want to play physical, I want to play hard, but I’m not here to hurt you.”
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Leslie also suggested that perhaps Thomas would’ve faced a less severe punishment had she reacted differently after the incident and apologized to Clark.
“That’s not what happened, so I think the league got it right, but, overall, I think that Coach Tibbetts is correct. Consistency is important. It needs to get cleaned up for all players, regardless of what their accolades are,” Leslie said.