Unpacking Thomas' response to her suspension
Natalie Esquire and Terrika Foster-Brasby discuss Phoenix Mercury's Alyssa Thomas' response to her one-game suspension and her feelings toward the league's then lack of response.
Video Transcript
Welcome to the WNBA on NBC.
I'm Natalie Esquire and I'm joined today by Charissa Foster-Brasby.
Charissa, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely.
Well, yesterday, Charissa, was a big day in the WNBA because it was the Commissioner's Cup, and that was supposed to be the main thing happening during the day.
But as we were waiting for the game to occur, some news was unfolding, and it's really an ongoing story.
but Allisa Thomas was returning from a one game suspension that the league levied on her, as a result of a, a foul, that they upgraded to a flagrant two, in a, in a game, a recent game between the Phoenix, Mercury and the Indiana Fever.
And it was a foul on Caitlin Clark.
And, it was upgraded after the fact.
During the game in real time it was, it was not called anything.
And so after the, the game, there was a lot of commentary around it.
and, you know, it resulted in a, in a suspension.
A, an upgrade to a flagrant two, and a suspension.
And so, the Phoenix Mercury did play a game after that, and they won that game without Allisa Thomas, and then they had practice yesterday, and she spoke for the first time, and she was asked questions by the media about just what, what's happened.
And so, she, she said a lot.
She did.
And I'd rather we let her say her word, so let, let's hear from Allisa Thomas and then you and I will discuss.
AT, what's the last week been like for you?
crazy.
you know, the, playing the game, being suspended, just the whole narrative that's being painted out there.
it's unfortunate that it's come to this over, over basketball.
a lot of us, myself included, didn't even know the, the play took place until after, you know, the game.
And, you know, now we're being painted as thugs and when Steph runs out on us.
So, it, it's really unacceptable.
it is something that needs to change in this league.
And, I, I'm just really sick and tired of it.
Have you ever experienced something like that before?
a couple years ago when we, when we played Indiana in the playoffs.
The same thing.
but not to this extent.
you know, our, our families are being threatened, kids are being threatened, people are sending racist slurs and all, all kinds of stuff.
And, you know, there's a, a difference between trolling and there's a difference between hatred.
And, the hatred that we're experiencing over a play that honestly was a, a complete accident, no, no one even knew what happened, it was just unfortunate.
But yeah, the, the league has to do better in a sense.
V was really frustrated that the league didn't reach out to any of you guys.
Do you share that frustration?
What would you have told the league?
honestly I didn't even know I was being suspended until 10 minutes before it was, was put on, on social media.
we still have yet to hear anything from Cathy.
it's no surprise.
You can see what was being said on, on social media.
And, yeah, I mean it, it's unfortunate, but a- as usual she remains silent and, and that's unfortunate when, you know, our, our lives are, are being threatened.
So Charissa, Allisa Thomas said a lot.
And I can't believe that this is the third year since Caitlin Clark has joined the league, she's in her third season, and we are rehashing and revisiting the same conversations from her rookie season.
And it's, I mean, it's literally a repeat conversation.
And we heard Allisa Thomas in that video say She was asked if she's dealt with something like this before.
I remember.
Mm-hmm.
And she said, yeah, two years ago when she was basically on the, a member of the Connecticut Sun.
Mm-hmm.
The Connecticut Sun played the Indiana Fever.
And after that series ended, the, the Sun had, won the series and they were moving on in the playoffs, and Allisa Thomas made a statement in her post-game about the racial comments at that time.
She didn't even refer to them as racist.
Yeah.
But she said the racial comments that, she's received, she said she's never experienced anything like that, you know, in this league.
And- You recall why, right?
After the poke in the eye from Dijonai.
Yes.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
And what's so interesting L- let's remember that poke in the eye, because I wanna come back to that.
But she just said, you know, she just sh I remember, Charissa, you and I talked about it then.
We were actually in here- Yep in studio.
Mm-hmm.
And I was asking if it surprised you.
It surprised me, because you are the Connecticut Con- Sun sideline reporter.
Mm-hmm.
And so you, you know that team very well, you obviously know Allisa Thomas well from covering her.
And I was surprised, because AT's not someone who speaks a lot.
She's very soft-spoken.
So even though she's known as this physical player around the league, she's soft-spoken.
And for her to come out and say that, to me was a very meaningful, meaningful thing.
Yeah, no, I, I remember that time well.
as you mentioned, I've been the sideline reporter for the Connecticut Sun for the last five and a half seasons.
Half 'cause we're in a season.
But, for the last five and a half seasons, I've gotten to know, an on the court persona and a little bit of an off the court persona from Allisa.
And yeah, I remember distinctly during that time there was a lot of racial tension.
'Cause I'ma call it what it, what it is.
It was a lot of racial tension at the time.
there was this back and forth thing between, Connecticut fans Well, not Connecticut fans, but Fever fans and, or some of those who say they were Fever fans, and the Connecticut Sun because there was an incident in which Dijonai Carrington mistakenly poked Caitlin Clark in the eye.
They were talking about her fingernails and, which were her natural nails, by the way.
Right.
there were people who were showing up to games mocking Dijonai, and there were people who were making threats, so much so to where I remember being at the Connecticut game covering the game in which people were asked to be removed from the game because of their behavior towards some players, some of the things that they were saying, the things that they were alluding to.
So it is a bit unfortunate that, once again, th- we are in a situation in which physical contact to Caitlin Clark has resulted in fans, or those who are claiming to be fans of hers, because I do understand, and I mean this sincerely, I do understand that there are some people who are not truly fans.
Right.
They, they utilize Her name, her likeness, her fan base to do and say very malicious things, and that is not fair.
And so, so I say that- Absolutely loosely when I say they are claiming to be fans of hers that, that are coming at Alyssa and her family in this way.
What happens on the court, keep it on the court.
When it's off the court, you're going too far.
Absolutely.
And I, I think it's important that you said mistakenly poked her in the eye, and that's not just us saying that.
She said it.
That was Right.
That was what Dijonai said, but also it's what Caitlin Clark said.
Ca- Absolutely.
To the point that she got so frustrated with the line of questioning, she's like, "Oh my gosh, it was an accident."
Like, like, "What are we doing?
Why are we still on this?"
The- these things happen, and so let's, let's fast-forward right now to the, to the present day, right?
Yep.
And there was a, like I said, there was a play.
And, and we should show the play because there was a play where, Caitlin Clark got fouled.
Mm-hmm.
And when you're watching this play in real time- Mm-hmm Terica, like I want people to understand like what it looked like in real time.
So this is the play, and you know, they're diving for a loose ball on the floor.
You see Alyssa Thomas avoiding Caitlin Clark not to step on her.
They run back down the court.
None of the players react.
The bench didn't react.
the coach didn't react.
Caitlin Clark herself didn't react.
I mean, she, she had to get up off the floor, but she wasn't like, you know, calling to the refs or anything.
Now this is an alternate view, and that's where we see Alyssa Thomas' hand almost in fist format connect with, Caitlin Clark's neck or touch it.
And I, I wanna be very careful with the words that I say because when I watch these videos in real time First of all, in real time I don't even see a foul in real time.
In real time I didn't see.
From the camera angle when it was happening, I didn't see it initially either, so I didn't even react to it.
Right.
And then when I see it from this angle, to me, Terica, it appeared that Alyssa Thomas went down trying to get the loose ball, and then her hand slipped.
It was on Caitlin Clark's shoulder.
It was on her shoulder.
Yes.
It slipped.
It slips to her neck, and she just like gets herself up.
She makes sure she doesn't step on her in getting up, and she runs back down the floor.
That's what it looked like to me.
And to me what is instructive, Terica, is the reaction from everyone when it was happening in real time that it probably was not this egregious thing.
Like, if you wanna say the refs didn't see it or the And they should've, I don't know that they should've.
And look, there Officiating has been a big conversation around the WNBA, and there are times the refs should be called out 'cause we're like, "How didn't you see that?
It was right in front of you."
In my opinion, this is just not the play where I feel like we can say, "The refs should've seen that," and known that.
Because players dive for loose balls all the time.
Mm-hmm.
But if you're gonna say the refs didn't see it and should've, the coach didn't react then, the, the players didn't react then.
N- nobody reacted.
But most importantly, Caitlin Clark didn't even react.
Now Caitlin Clark will let an official know.
Oh, will she ever.
When she thinks there's a foul, when she thinks she should be getting a call.
And so, and you heard Alyssa Thomas herself say that it was an accident.
And I think what's unfortunate is, at least according to Alyssa Thomas, she said, or, and, and, and her coach said, Nate Tibbetts, that they haven't heard from the league.
He didn't think that the investigation was thorough, before they handed down, you know, this reprimand, the suspension.
Because- Mm-hmm they, no one checked to get Alyssa's side, Alyssa Thomas' side of the story.
Kahleah Copper said the same thing.
And he also responded to comments, by Steph White who actually used to coach Alyssa Thomas, where she said she took cheap shots.
And, and Nate says, "The people in this league know who Alyssa Thomas is.
She's a competitor.
She's a winner.
The one thing she is not is cheap."
And so again, he's gonna defend his player.
Steph White's gonna defend her player.
But I do think this commentary and this flash frame and this freezing of the play and still images of it, and all this that ensued after the play on the court- Mm-hmm I think fanned the flame, Terica.
Yeah, I would agree with that because I- I'm numero uno who fell victim.
Originally, I didn't watch the game originally in real time.
I was actually covering a different game at the same time that this game was going on.
That's what happens when you're a reporter.
So you have to go back and watch things.
And originally I saw the isolated clip.
And when I originally saw the isolated clip, I said, "Whoa.
Like, we gotta be a little bit more careful because these types of plays are dangerous."
Never called Alyssa a dirty player because I don't believe that with any ounce of my being, and I don't think it was intentional.
But I do think you have to be more careful with these types of plays because they can be dangerous.
But then I went back and watched the whole game, and literally I didn't even realize that that was the play- when I watched it in real time.
I was like, "Oh, wait.
That was the play that everybody stopped."
And I was like, "It looks like her hand slipped."
Like, it, it looks like her hand was on her shoulder originally and then slips over to her throat.
So okay, if you wanna upgrade that to a Flagrant 2, I've seen a couple of plays this year that have been upgraded to a Flagrant 2 that I've been like, "I don't know, but okay."
But I thought the retroactive suspension for sure was in response to the outrage that came across on social media, to me.
I feel like there are two things at play here.
Number one, the internet has a way of, of making isolated clips and isolated things, and like moving through those things.
And without the full context it's very easy to come up with one stance or another.
But you really do have to take the full context into everything.
So that's number one.
Number two, I think the league has a problem of being reactive and not proactive.
And to me that is what Alyssa is referring to when she talks about, and I wanna say her quote, "As usual, she remains silent when our lives are threatened."
And I know we'll get a little bit more into that in a minute, but that's because this league has just had- And she's referencing the commissioner- And she's referencing- just to be clear she's referencing, the commissioner Ca- Cathy Engelbert not speaking up after it was clear for another time that there have been death threats, that there have been, security issues, that people's families have been threatened, all types of things.
And even previously to this, there have been other incidents involving other players that have received different types of threats.
I mean, seriously we literally just two weeks ago, saw the reports about someone was stalking Sophie Cunningham and was arrested.
We previously remember someone was stalking Caitlin Clark and was charged and arrested.
We did a whole segment on it.
We did.
And, and look- So these players are, their safety, and now they're making more money, now there are more eyes, now more Players' safety is 100% an issue that has to be addressed.
Absolutely.
And you need your commissioner to have your back.
Because again, the on the court is the on the court.
If you felt you needed to make a decision and you felt you needed to do a suspension or whatever, we may not agree with it, but that is an on the court repercussion for an on the court play.
Off the court your job should be to work to the benefit of your players, protecting your players, having your players' backs.
And there should never be a time where a player says, "I didn't hear from my commissioner," or, "I didn't get this," or, "I felt ignored," or, "There was silence."
Because that just, just furthers this notion that there is such a large disconnect between the commissioner of the WNBA and the players that play within it
