Caitlin Clark is 'a political football in this country,' says NBA's Adam Silver

INDIANAPOLIS — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says he's gotten to know Caitlin Clark "really well." He says she's an incredible player and also an incredible person who wants to focus, solely, on being the best basketball player and teammate she can.

>Yet, Silver says, that focus has been hard to come by for Clark with everything that swirls around her.

>"She's become a bit of a political football in this country," Silver said in an interview Thursday at the CNBC Game Plan Summit in New York City. "And, I think it's incredibly unfair to her."

>Silver's comments about Clark followed a question by CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin surrounding reports that Silver had stepped in to urge WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert to suspend the Mercury's Alyssa Thomas for her incident with Clark June 24.

>Sports Business Journal, citing sources, reported July 15 that Silver asked Engelbert to suspend Thomas for placing her fist on Clark's throat during a battle for a loose ball. A WNBA spokesperson called the assertion "absolutely false."

>"The report says that, effectively, the WNBA was not necessarily going to penalize Thomas," Sorkin said to Silver, "but that you stepped in and said that it had to happen."

>Silver quipped that Engelbert had just been on stage, then responded.

>"Let me give you a serious answer to that question. I think that, ultimately, the issues around Caitlin Clark are not largely about officiating, and that particular incident is not about whether a foul should have been called at the time in the game or whether that was ultimately a flagrant on review," Silver said.

>"It's sort of, it's become political ping-pong with her."

>Later in the interview, Sorkin asked Silver, "But (is it) fair to say you stepped in?"

>Silver declined to comment, saying "I don't think it's fair to Caitlin and to Cathy Engelbert, either. I think that that's not the real issue here."

>"Obviously, the league decided after the fact that not only should a foul ... have been called, but it was a flagrant foul," Silver said. "So, yes, we need to improve WNBA officiating, and there's lots to work ... on NBA officiating as well. But I really think this is an opportunity to support Caitlin and say, like, 'Let her be the best basketball player she can be.'"

'Do we need to improve WNBA officiating? No doubt about it'The incident at the center of Sorkin's questioning happened June 24 in a game between the Fever and Mercury when Thomas and two other Mercury players scrambled for a loose ball with Clark. When Clark no longer had the ball, Thomas hovered over her with a fist on her shoulder, which moved down to Clark's throat.

>Thomas then stood up and walked over Clark with the ball going the other way. No foul was called.

>The WNBA later penalized Thomas for "recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area of (Clark)" during the game.

>After serving a one-game suspension, Thomas told reporters in Phoenix that she and her family had received death threats, racial slurs and had addresses leaked. She called on the WNBA to enact change to protect players off the court.

>Silver told Sorkin it's unfair to Clark "that this has become a separate storyline about one foul. People are allowed to think whatever they can, whatever they want about our league, but ... there's so much to celebrate about in the WNBA."

>The original business plan for the WNBA was written 30 years ago, and Silver was a part of that.

>"And where women's sports has come, we missed our numbers for many years in the WNBA, but then it turned a corner," he said. "You're now seeing off-the-chart valuations of WNBA teams."

>Silver pointed to Joe and Clara Tsai, who became the first Asian American owners to win a WNBA championship with the New York Liberty in 2024.

>"And Caitlin came along, brought an entirely new audience — and it began while she was still in college — to the game. Young girls, women, men, across the board, people who never had been paying attention to women's basketball," Silver said. "And then it became a rising tide. She, because, as we quickly all saw it, it wasn't just Caitlin. There's enormous talent in this league."

>Silver then went back to Sorkin's question about officiating.

>"Do we need to improve WNBA officiating? No doubt about it," he said. "But my day job is getting complaints about NBA officiating. So, we have lots to work on."

>Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

>This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Caitlin Clark is 'a political football in this country,' says NBA's Adam Silver