The WNBA game on July 10 was captured on camera, showing Indiana Fever star Cassin Clark pushing Washington Mystics player Julie Vanloo.
The incident occurred in the second quarter, and the video shows Clark pushing Vanloo after they made physical contact while Clark was trying to catch a pass.
The physicality of WNBA games has been a problem all season; on June 1, Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter appeared to block Clark’s body.
Vanloo is a Belgian native who played for the Turkish Super League for the 2023–24 season.
In a press release from February 2024, Washington Mystics General Manager Mike Thibault called Vanloo “a terrific shooter who can play both guard spots” and mentioned that she has “been a key player for the Belgian National Team during their rise to the top tier of international teams.”
Thibault also added, “Like a lot of our players, she has the versatility we value to play multiple positions.” Several fans felt Caitlin Clark receiving physical treatment wasn’t treated the same as other players receiving the same treatment.
One admirer commented on X beneath the video, saying, “If anybody else did something like this it would’ve been the end of the world smh.”
“She has always had bad temper, but in order to maintain this perception of her, the media doesn’t address it.
She gave this woman three real shoves. Smh,” a second user commented on X. Clark “seemed to make a flopping gesture at Vanloo, and the two exchanged words,” according to The New York Post.Clark was heard asking Vanloo to “stop flopping” in a video.
Athlon Sports stated that a foul was not called against Clark for the shove because the refs were “distracted by something going on at another section of the court.”
Caitlin Clark gets called for another push off.
She tells the refs, “Don’t fall for that. You fell for it. She’s so soft”#WNBAtwitter pic.twitter.com/96dGH7uOR4
— HoopHer (@HoopHerSpeaks) July 10, 2024
According to Athlon Sports, Clark “mocked” Vanloo at one point during what the site described as a “frustrating” first half for the Fever. In the first quarter, another video shows Clark was able to get open from Vanloo’s defense and hit a three-point shot.
“Don’t fall for that,” the referee remarked after calling a foul on Clark at another point in the game. You gave in to it. The Post and the video demonstrate how tender she is.
Jessica McBride is a senior journalism instructor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a news, sports, and entertainment reporter for Heavy that covers breaking news, politics, sports, entertainment, and crime.
Previously, she worked as a reporter for the Wisconsin newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Waukesha Freeman.
