Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever didn’t get off to the sort of start they hoped for in their first game of the WNBA regular season, falling to Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings, 107-104.
Clark, who played in her first regular-season game for the Fever since last season’s injury, finished with 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting to go with seven assists and five rebounds.
However, she also picked up four fouls, with her team picking up 25, and her on-court comment towards one of the Wings players drew attention in a viral video clip.
In the clip, Aziaha James guards Clark heavily and then draws contact from Clark, falling back onto the court.
Moments later, a slow-motion part of the video reveals to those experienced in lip-reading that Clark said, “Flopping all [expletive] day.”
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The video, shared by Underdog WNBA on X, had over 4,500 likes and 250-plus comments from those reacting to Clark’s critical remarks during the game. Many of them were against her, accusing her of whining or flopping.
“Coming from her this is so [expletive] funny,” one commenter said in the X replies.
“Caitlin dropped the shoulder that is foul every time. That wasn’t a flop got to love your fever bias. Loved that the wings won,” another commenter said.
“She lowered the shoulder and extended the arm, and then has the nerve to talk about flopping. SMH,” someone wrote in the X replies.
Others wrote, “Flop or not, this is an offensive foul so stop whinning!” and “The Queen of Flop has the audacity to talk. That was an offensive foul that was not called by the way!”
Based on Clark’s reactions, she was complaining despite the fact that she was not whistled for her fifth foul in the game.
It was a surprising way for this Fever team to open the season, seeing as expectations are high again now that Clark is healthy on the court for her squad.
It’s also a long season, so Indiana still has time to figure out where they’re going wrong and improve upon it rather than complain about officiating or other players’ on-court tendencies.
One thing that stood out from Saturday’s loss to the Wings was that they attempted 24 three-pointers but made only seven.
On the opposing side, Dallas connected on 12-of-23 three-point attempts. In addition, the Wings’ newest addition, Jessica Shepard, had a significant contribution as a starter, nearly giving the team a triple-double in the win.
Clark and the Fever will attempt to bounce back from the loss when they visit the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, May 13.
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