Mercury’s Nate Tibbetts Irritated by WNBA Suspension Process

Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts called out the WNBA and defended his star player Alyssa Thomas before his team’s 89-80 win over the Toronto Tempos on Saturday.

The comments came after Thomas served a one-game suspension earlier in the week for a play involving Indiana Fever guard Kaitlyn Clark in which Thomas “recklessly (threw) a punch to the throat area,” according to the WNBA. Fever coach Stephanie White called the game a “cheap chance.”

No fouls were called during the game, but after reviewing the incident the next day, the league deemed it worthy of further punishment.

“I would like to express my disappointment in the suspension process by our league and our leaders at the W. In my opinion, this was not a thorough investigation,” Tibbetts said, adding that no one from the WNBA contacted him, Thomas or team security to understand the situation from their perspective.

“People in this league know who AT is,” he said. “She’s a competitor, she’s a winner, and she’s strong. The only thing it is not is cheap.”

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After Saturday’s win, Thomas’ teammates also came to her defense.

“We’re with AT,” guard Kalia Copper said. “We just want this to be handled correctly. We want someone to also call her and check on her and make sure she’s okay. I don’t think things worked out the way they should have from a professional point of view.”

Mercury defenseman Lexi Held echoed Copper’s sentiments and said it was important for the team to publicly support Thomas because “there are a lot of stories going on that were false and not true.”

“We just wanted to show our support and give her a voice because there are a lot of stories in the media that are not true and not true to who she is and who she is,” Held said. “So I just wanted to be a teammate for her during these crazy, tough times.”

Officiating in the WNBA has been at the center of debate over the past year. During the offseason, the league formed a committee to help improve the game’s officiating, focusing on consistent calls and allowing hitters freedom of movement.

Tibbetts is part of the task force with White. After Wednesday’s game, in which Clarke exited early with a back problem after a play in which she landed on her close defender’s leg, White said the failure to respond to Clarke, whom she called a “generational talent,” was “blatant and extremely disrespectful.”

After the league announced Thomas’ suspension, White told reporters she was glad they made the decision, but added, “These are things we can’t miss in real time. We have to get better.”

On Saturday, Tibbetts said he agreed it was important to “clean up our game,” but added, “Let’s not base this on generational talent, fan participation, All-Star caliber players or role players. Let’s not base this on veteran players or young players, white players, black players or international players. If it’s a standard, make it a standard, even if the roles are reversed in this situation.”