WNBA referees outright disrespect Caitlin Clark after dirty Marina Mabrey shove

Caitlin Clark is the face of the WNBA and is one of the most popular basketball players on the globe. With that fame comes a massive spotlight that will exemplify anything notable that happens on or off the court.

That is what just happened on Tuesday night when the Indiana Fever hosted the Connecticut Sun.

Things got chippy in the third quarter when Clark was poked in the eye by Sun guard Marina Mabrey. Clark lightly shoved Mabrey as she was crowding her after the play only for Mabrey to respond in an even more aggressive way: with a full-fledge shove to the ground.

Worst of all, Mabrey wasn't even ejected from the game.

Marina Mabrey somehow gets away with shoving Caitlin Clark

There are always two sides to every story but when the story is broadcast on national television it is pretty easy to see which side is more accurate. Clark was obviously poked in the eye and while she did get physical with Mabrey, it wasn't unprovoked.

Mabrey's shove was far worse than Clark simply trying to clear out her personal space after getting an eye poke that would make Jon Jones cry. Not to the eyes of the officiating crew, though. The play resulted in a double technical and Mabrey somehow wasn't ejected from the game.

Jacey Sheldon was issues a flagrant foul after the play.

The WNBA world is rightfully questioning why Mabrey didn't get tossed and why Clark is getting the exact same foul call as the player who boldly shoved her to the floor. There really doesn't seem to be much nuance here, yet the WNBA is opening Pandora's Box of controversy by handling the situation in this way.

Mabrey has built a reputation for her physical play with some even calling her the WNBA's version of Patrick Beverley. After a polarizing moment with the face of the league, Mabrey is going to go from being labeled as a physical player to being labeled as a dirty play.

Does one dirty play make someone a dirty player? That is for WNBA fans to decide. Regadless of where fans fall on Mabery's standing in the league, she got away with one of the dirtiest plays of the WNBA season to this point.

And because it involved Caitlin Clark, the entire sports world is going to be talking about it.