SAD NEWS: Caitlin Clark has been fired from the team of indiana fever due to……..Read More.

“This league is awesome, it’s a physical league,” Sides later explained, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “That was a non-basketball play that needed to be called in that moment.”

As for Clark, she expressed her intent to remain level-headed in physical situations on the court.

“It is what it is,” she said, via Philippou. “I feel like I’m just at the point where you accept it and don’t retaliate.”

“I’m trying not to let it bother me,” she added.

While Clark has struggled with her long-range efficiency, the former Iowa standout has still put together several impressive performances throughout her brief WNBA career. Through 11 appearances, she’s averaging 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game. The former No. 1 overall pick was also named the WNBA Rookie of the Month in May.

Silver explained that Clark’s promising on-court play “may be lost on some people who are new to basketball” due to the flagrant foul from Carter as well as the ensuing narrative.

With the controversy surrounding the foul seemingly in the rearview mirror, the 22-year-old will attempt to help the Fever bounce back from a 2-9 start to the 2024 season. Indiana’s next chance to secure a win comes against the Washington Mystics on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Enter Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman into the discussion, as she commented on what she would have done if Carter fouled her in that moment.

“If I were Caitlin Clark, I would’ve punched her in the face,” Lieberman said on Run It Back on FanDuel TV. “I’m from New York, and I would have told her to, ‘(expletive) off.’ That would actually cure the problem.”

Lieberman praised Carter as a good, tough, physical basketball player but then ripped Clark’s teammates.

“Where’s Caitlin Clark’s teammates? I would be pissed as (expletive) at my teammates,” she said, saying that some sports greats like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky had enforcers to protect them. “It’s (expletive). Someone has to come to this kid’s, I don’t want to say rescue.”