The Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark aren't the only ones talking about fouls in the WNBA these days. During Sunday's game against the Wings, Rebecca Lobo and Ryan Ruocco made it clear they weren't happy with how Dallas treated Clark, either.
"There's a grab, there's a hold, there's another grab, I mean, all of those are fouls," Lobo said during one play. "Every single one of them. That's a foul, that's a foul, and finally they call [one of them]."
Broadcast team breaks down every foul defenders are allowed to get away with on Caitlin Clark pic.twitter.com/985PVBvwH8
— Clark Report (@CClarkReport) July 13, 2025
WNBA officiating has been a hot topic all season, with the Fever often leading calls against reffing before, during, and after games. But they haven't been the only ones who have had a bone to pick with officials.
The Fever aren't the only team who's been frustrated by refs this season
In June, Kelsey Plum called out the refs following the Sparks' game against the Valkyries, which Golden State won 89-81 in overtime. The game was the team's second loss to the Valkyries, and tension was running high during the postgame conference. A clearly incensed Plum told reporters that she wasn't concerned about a foul before lodging her complaint.
"So, to shoot six free throws is f---ing absurd," Plum insisted. "I got scratches on my face, I got scratches on my body, and these guards on the other team get these ticky-tack fouls, and I'm sick of it. I get fouled like that on every possession."
Plum also accused refs of failing to call the same fouls in favor of her teammate Rickea Jackson.
Clark's foul calls are rooted in how she played in college
To a degree, part of Clark's game includes drawing fouls. That's something she excelled at in college, where she learned to drive into defenders, nearly forcing them to unintentionally (or even intentionally) foul her in an attempt to slow her down. The tactic served her well at the NCAA level, but she's run into trouble repeatedly in the WNBA, and has had to learn to adjust her game as a result.
That doesn't mean that there aren't still plenty of calls not being made, and Clark has also started physically creating more space and distance between herself the defenders who swarm her — and sometimes committing offensive fouls in the process, something else refs haven't been calling in her opponent's favor.
The question of what to do with WNBA reffing will likely continue to dominate the 2025 season, and could perhaps spur a push for league-wide reform before next year. If not, expect more situations like this to unfold, until someone with power does something about it.