Caitlin Clark approved of Fever head coach Stephanie White picking up a technical foul late in their blowout win Thursday — and even said she’d pay the fine, according to White.
White was yelling toward officials during an Indiana possession with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Fever leading the Aces by 23, and after one referee signaled for a technical, Clark, out with a groin injury, immediately jumped up from the bench, started clapping and high-fived White.
Then, after the game when asked about the foul and whether it was frustration boiling over, White smiled before eventually revealing that Clark was paying for it.
“I don’t know about frustrations boiling as more to just like making a point,” White told reporters. “Caitlin said she got me, though. She just got a bonus.”
White was referencing the Fever’s recent Commissioner’s Cup title and the share of a $500,000 prize that each player received for the in-season tournament, which they secured even with Clark out with a left groin injury that has sidelined her for Indiana’s last four games.
During her first year coaching Clark and the Fever, White hasn’t attempted to hide her thoughts about the officiating, as she called out the referees for missing a foul call on the final possession of their narrow loss to the Liberty in May.
The Fever, viewed as a group that could contend for the title entering the year, have collected just a 9-8 start after Thursday’s 81-54 win, though Clark — averaging 18.2 points, 8.9 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game — has missed time with an injury at two separate points.
The Fever will host the Sparks on Saturday, and while it’s unclear if Clark will return, White told reporters earlier in the week that Indiana wants to operate with caution — and avoid having the injury spiral into something that could impact her availability even after returning.
“Making progress and feeling good are two different things,” White said, according to the Indy Star. “We want to make sure that she feels good. We want to make sure that she’s confident. We want to make sure that we’re not putting her in a position to have any setbacks. … That’s the priority right now.”