After being on the receiving end of two flagrant fouls on Friday's matchup against the Sky, Caitlin Clark fans have brought up the idea that she is being targeted throughout the league. A statistic from the X account CClarkReport went viral on Sunday pointing out that 17 percent of the league's flagrant fouls had been committed against Clark, and the Sky were responsible for 80 percent of them.
That sounds pretty damning on its face, and, while that statistic is true, when you look at the film of what actually happened, it's not quite as bad as it sounds.
Let's break down all of the flagrant fouls committed against Clark in her rookie WNBA season.
MORE: Clark scores career-high in dominant win over Sky
Flagrant fouls committed against Caitlin Clark in 2024
Of the league's 30 flagrant fouls handed out this year, five have come on fouls committed against Clark. Let's dissect all of them.
Flagrant No. 1
This foul occurred when the Sparks' Aari McDonald contested Clark's 3-point attempt and was in her landing zone.
It would be pretty tough to come to the conclusion that McDonald was doing anything dirty here. Clark was bringing the ball up in transition, and McDonald was probably surprised that Clark was pulling up from so deep. It looked like she was trying to get a decent contest and landed in the wrong spot.
Flagrant No. 2
Chennedy Carter was assessed a flagrant after the game had already concluded for this play.
This play has already received a ton of attention, and the relationship between Clark and Carter has been dissected ever since. Clark took issue with it, stating, "That's just not a basketball play, but gotta play through it" after the game.
Carter leads the WNBA with four flagrant fouls. She's a chippy player, and that play deserved to be assessed a flagrant foul.
Flagrant No. 3
Angel Reese was assessed a technical foul on Clark after trying to contest her layup attempt.
Reese did foul Clark on her follow-through, but she was pretty clearly making a play on the ball. She rejected the shot before her momentum took her into Clark.
Clark and Reese both insisted that the foul wasn't that big of a deal. Reese called it "a basketball play," and Clark agreed, stating that "it's just part of basketball."
Flagrant No. 4
This was the first of two flagrant fouls assessed to the Sky in Friday's matchup against the Fever. Michaela Onyenwere was trying to stay with Clark, got hit with a stepback, and was over-aggressive in closing out.
This is very similar to the first flagrant foul that Clark received.
Landing zone fouls can be dangerous, which is why both the NBA and WNBA have strictly enforced rules against them. However,this wasn't even considered a foul a few years back, and it did not look intentional. These types of plays happen naturally during the course of games fairly frequently.
Flagrant No. 5
Towards the closing moments of Friday's game, with the Fever already holding a 27-point lead, Diamond DeShields rammed into Clark.
DeShields had already committed two fouls against Clark previously, further inciting the ire of Clark's fans. One told DeShields that a tumor which could have paralyzed DeShields back in 2020 "should've took her out," which DeShields shared on Instagram after the game.
There is some merit to discussing (in a not insane way) DeShields' and Carter's flagrant fouls on Clark. The other three don't look terribly bad, and it's also valid to point out that we're talking about a sample size of five flagrant fouls here, which is not that much.
Most of the fouls against Clark do not seem malicious. She herself has committed some very hard fouls that have not been called flagrants.
Anything involving Clark is going to blow up, though, particularly any instances of her seemingly being targeted. When you look at the film, it doesn't seem like that's what is going on here.