Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts defended star forward Alyssa Thomas against accusations of dirty play and called out the WNBA in a lengthy statement to open his pregame press conference Saturday ahead of his team's matchup with the Toronto Tempo on CBS.
Thomas will not play on Saturday. She is serving a one-game suspension for, as described by the league, "recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area" of Caitlin Clark during a loose-ball scramble in the second quarter of the Mercury's win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday. No foul was called during the game, but the league retroactively assessed Thomas a Flagrant 2 and suspended her for one game.
Mercury's Alyssa Thomas suspended one game for putting fist into Caitlin Clark's throat in win over Fever Jack Maloney
Following Wednesday's game, Fever coach Stephanie White called Thomas' conduct "egregious and utterly disrespectful" and said Clark was on the receiving end of "two cheap shots." Clark left Wednesday's game with a back injury and has been ruled out indefinitely.
On Saturday, Tibbetts responded to White and questioned the process the WNBA used to ultimately suspend Thomas, saying it was "not thorough" and "extremely disappointing."
Here are Tibbetts' full comments:
"First off, the Mercury organization would like to let AT know that she's 100% supported by us. The people in this league know who AT is. She's a competitor, she's a winner and she's tough. The one thing she is not is cheap.
"I respect Steph White. I got to know her with USA Basketball. I respect her as a coach and a person, and I understand her sticking up for Caitlin in this situation. But to say that we had two cheap shots in that game, to me, is ridiculous. Steph knows AT, she got the opportunity to coach AT for two years, and she knows what AT stands for and what she's about.
"Next, I'd like to hit on my disappointment in the suspension process by our league and our leaders in the W. This was not a thorough investigation in my opinion. The people involved were not questioned at all. It's extremely disappointing. No one from the league called AT, our security team or myself about what we felt like happened in this situation. There is a protocol to be followed, just coming from the NBA, there's been many investigations that I've heard about that there was calls on both sides, and that was not done in this situation, and that's disappointing.
"I agree with everyone's stance. Let's continue to clean up our game. I'm a part of our referee task force, the same that Stephanie White is, and Cheryl Reeve and Becky Hammon. The goal is to clean up our game, but I do think it's important not to rely on social media screenshots. This is a slippery slope. Let's watch the whole play, the whole game. We've got more people on our eyes, it's a great league.
"I hope that we can all agree that consistency is the main thing in how we call these games. React to situations like this with consistency. Let's not base it on generational talent, fan base involvement, All-Star level players or role players. Let's don't base it off veterans or young players, or white players or black players, or international players. If this is the standard, make this the standard, even if the roles were reversed in this situation. Make the storyline the storyline, and the suspension the same. And let's just be consistent."
Phoenix Mercury’s coach, Nate Tibbetts, addressing Alyssa Thomas suspension “I’m disappointed with the suspension process by our league and our leaders in the W. This was not a thorough investigation in my opinion. The people involved were not questioned at all”#WNBA pic.twitter.com/f7mxNQjJ3U
— Toni Canyameras (@Canyameridis71) June 27, 2026
The other "cheap shot" White referenced on Wednesday was a landing space foul shortly after the incident with Thomas that appeared to jar Clark's back.
"We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren't called. And I just say again: absolutely unacceptable," White said. "... We spent all offseason looking at officiating. All offseason. And I still say the one thing that we keep asking for is consistency. She is not called the same way everybody else is called."
White, who previously coached Thomas with the Connecticut Sun in 2023 and 2024, later said on Friday that she was "surprised" by the play, but "more surprised" that nothing was called during the game.
"I think the biggest thing for me is that we have to see it in real time," White said. "I mean, yes, I'm thankful that the league went back and used their ability to go back and review it, but these are things that we can't miss in real time. We've got to be better."
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