SerpApi.Org
Caitlin Clark just put together one of the best stretches of her career, and somehow, the referees are still the headline. A 45-point, 10-assist night against Seattle. A blowout win over New York. And in between all of it, another round of criticism about how she talks to officials.
Former NBA player Etan Thomas is the latest to weigh in, and he didn’t hold back. On his podcast, The Collision, Thomas compared Clark to Veruca Salt, the spoiled child from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film who throws a tantrum any time she doesn’t get her way.
“Do you remember the girl in the red dress from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who always threw tantrums whenever she didn’t get her way? Veruca Salt. That’s who she reminds me of,” Thomas said. “She was throwing a full-out tantrum.”
Thomas doubled down later on X, posting a graphic that made the comparison explicit. “That’s how Caitlin Clark acts. Like a spoiled brat who throws a tantrum every time she doesn’t get her way,” he wrote.
The comment traces back to Indiana’s loss to the Golden State Valkyries last week. Clark was upset after officials missed a call on a drive to the basket, and she let the nearest referee know about it on the way back down the floor. She stayed just as pointed after the game.
“I got kneed right in the quad. That hurts. The ref can’t miss that,” Clark said. “Then I had to play with a contusion in my leg the rest of the game. That’s ridiculous. You can’t miss calls like that.”
Thomas wasn’t the only voice piling on. Veteran analyst Jason Whitlock has made a habit of criticizing Clark’s fan base and her relationship with officials, at one point accusing her supporters of a “victim mentality” after a disputed no-call against Seattle. Clark hasn’t publicly responded to either critic.
The Complaints Are Starting To Cost Caitlin Clark Something Real
Two days after the Valkyries game, she picked up her sixth technical foul of the season during Indiana’s win over the Liberty, this time for arguing a no-call on a screen. That technical carries a $1,000 fine under the WNBA’s 2026 penalty structure, and it puts her two technicals away from an automatic one-game suspension.
Clark has now been fined $5,200 over her career, with $5,000 of that tied directly to technical fouls. She’s already paid $500 apiece for her first three technicals and now owes $1,000 for each one after that, all the way up to $1,500 once she hits her eighth.
None of it appears to be changing her approach. After picking up a technical last month for clapping toward opposing players, Clark mocked the idea that she needed to adjust.
“We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m gonna be suspended for if I’m gonna get technicals for clapping,” she said at the time.
That’s the tension defining this stretch of her season. Clark is playing some of the best basketball of her career, and the technicals keep piling up right alongside the highlights. Two more fouls end in a forced night off the floor, and with Indiana fighting for playoff position, that’s a cost the Fever can’t easily absorb. Whether Clark tightens up her reactions or keeps testing the threshold is now as much a storyline as anything she does with the ball in her hands.
