Fever Coach Had Honest Take on WNBA’s ‘Rough Play’ After Caitlin Clark Injury

The Fever coach candidly addressed the league's physicality following Wednesday night's loss to the Mystics.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) looks on with head coach Stephanie White during the third quarter against the Brazil National Team at Carver-Haweye Arena. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever suffered a bitter defeat to the Washington Mystics on Wednesday night in their first game of the WNBA season without Caitlin Clark, who's still nursing a quad injury.

The Fever sorely lacked their star playmaker and came short of a late comeback in the 83-77 road loss, with their offense looking at times lost and disjointed despite DeWanna Bonner's big showing (she finished with a team-high 21 points).

Afterward, Fever coach Stephanie White answered a pointed question about the league's physicality in her postgame presser, which may have been more related to the Fever's controversial loss to the New York Liberty in their previous game.

"I don't feel like there's any more intentionally rough play than there is in any basketball game," White said carefully. "Obviously I think we could get better in certain areas as far as how we call the game, consistency with how we call the game, we've made a real point to protect air-borne shooters on the perimeter, I don't think we do as good of a job at that near the rim."

White emphasized her desire to see more consistency in the WNBA's officiating, in particular:

"Are we going to say that we want a free-flowing offensive game, or are we going to have tough, grind-out physical games? Whatever way it is, the players will adjust and coaches will adjust. But we can't have it be one way one quarter and another way another quarter."

When asked by a reporter if she thinks the league should protect players from “intentionally rough play,” White says: “I don’t feel like there’s any more intentionally rough play than there is in any basketball game.”

Mentions wanting consistency from refs as the biggest thing. pic.twitter.com/RLmDQsqsOn

— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) May 29, 2025

When asked to elaborate on ways to improve the officiating, White comically asked the reporter whether he wanted her to get fined again. She mentioned that she was recently fined for her comments about the refs after the Fever-Liberty game.

The Fever have now dropped to 2-3 on the year but face a very winnable stretch of games with Clark out for two weeks. Their next three matchups will be against White's former team, the Connecticut Sun, the Mystics again and then the Chicago Sky.

---

More WNBA on Sports Illustrated

feed