Sports

Caitlin Clark's Teammate Gave Honest Explanation for What Led to Heated Spat With Stephanie White

By Andy Nesbitt Sports Illustrated

Caitlin Clark is used to going viral for all the awesome things she does during Fever games. But over the weekend, she captured the attention of just about everyone in the sports world for something that she was seen doing on the bench during a timeout.

In case you missed it, Clark and Fever coach Stephanie White had a heated moment that led to Clark getting out of her seat in anger and being subbed out.

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While many analysts wondered what the spat was about and if it would have any lingering effects on Clark and her relationship with White, Fever guard Lexie Hull said on Monday that it was no big deal and it's not something anyone on team is even concerned about.

Hull broke it all down while making an appearance on Yahoo Sports Daily:

"I think there's just frustration. I think we noticed that they were trying to pick on Caitlin on the defensive end," Hull said. "She was getting called for some fouls. Fouls aren't fun. She got into foul trouble and our team got into some foul trouble. That's just all it was, I think that's part of the game. There's frustrations that rise and decisions have to be made. Ultimately, this wasn't something that carried on. This is in the moment and something that happened and is not something that's talked about now in our locker room, [not] talked about even later on in the game. That's just something that happened, and unfortunately Caitlin has a camera on her 24/7 so you see every little thing. But this happens almost every day in women's basketball so it's not something that we're worried about at all."

Clark had one of the worst games of her WNBA career in the blowout loss to the Fire, as she finished with just six points on 1-of-7 shooting. She was hindered by five fouls which made it difficult for her to be a factor in the 100–84 loss.

WNBA greats Cheryl Miller and Sue Bird weighed in on the heated moment

Cheryl Miller and Sue Bird broke down the heated moment on NBC's studio show on Sunday.

"Right now, it's frustration. And unfortunately, it's boiling over and it's being seen," Miller said. "It's one thing to have it behind closed doors. But when it spills over, and when the coach has to basically say, ‘Hey, you know what, Caitlin, enough is enough. This is too disruptive, in and out, take a seat.' When it becomes disruptive to the entire team, somebody has to step in."

Bird agreed with Miller about frustrations being the main cause of the discussion between Clark and White but added that she didn't think it was a big deal.

"So, I think it is a lot of frustration. But it's also not that crazy," Bird said. "This isn't the first time we've seen this; it doesn't have some deeper meaning to it. I've had moments like that with coaches. I think it speaks to player-coach relationships."

Caitlin Clark and the Fever are off to a slow start to the WNBA season

Clark and the Fever are probably also a little frustrated with how they've been playing to start the season. The ugly loss to the Fire was their second straight defeat and dropped them to 4-4 on the year. Clark had 16 points on just 3-of-12 shooting in a loss to Golden State last Thursday.

The Fever will look to rebound on Thursday night when they host Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Caitlin Clark's Teammate Gave Honest Explanation for What Led to Heated Spat With Stephanie White.

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This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 2:27 PM.

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