Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas called out the WNBA for its failure to protect players in the fallout of her one-game suspension for committing a flagrant foul on Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark last week.
Thomas said she has been sent death threats, received threats against her family and was called racial slurs online in the days since the incident. She also said addresses have been leaked.
“A lot of us, myself included, didn’t even know the play took place until after the game, and now we’re being painted as thugs and there’s death threats out on us, so it’s really unacceptable, it’s something that needs to change in this league, and I’m just really sick and tired of it,” Thomas said after the Mercury’s practice Tuesday.
WATCH full presser herehttps://t.co/nY9tggLRKa
— PHNX Mercury (@PHNX_Mercury) June 30, 2026
Since her suspension, Thomas said she has not heard from league commissioner Cathy Engelbert despite the wave of social media hatred directed at Mercury players. However, a source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday that the commissioner had “exchanged texts and offered to get on a call with Alyssa Thomas last week.” The source also said that upon hearing about the threats, Engelbert immediately directed league security to contact Phoenix’s security.
The dispute seems to center less on whether contact happened and more on whether that contact resulted in meaningful follow-through.
DeWanna Bonner, Thomas’s partner and fellow Mercury forward, said Thomas initiated a text to Engelbert last week, and although Engelbert mentioned meeting with Thomas, she did not reach back out to set up a meeting. Two days before the game that featured Thomas’ flagrant foul, Bonner and Clark starred in a skirmish that culminated in five players receiving technical fouls — including Clark.
“We still have yet to hear anything from Cathy, it’s no surprise,” Thomas said. “As usual, she remains silent, and that’s unfortunate when our lives are being threatened.”
In a game against the Fever on June 24, referees did not call a foul on Thomas as she and Clark were on the floor and Thomas pushed her closed fist against Clark’s neck as she attempted to stand up. The WNBA reviewed the play after the game on an appeal by the Fever, retroactively calling it a flagrant 2 foul and announcing a one-game suspension on Thomas for “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area.”
Thomas said she learned of her suspension only 10 minutes before the news was on social media.
Bonner also said she has been inundated with messages, including racial slurs and she has received death threats to her and her family. The Athletic has obtained screenshots of nearly a dozen texts, direct messages and comments on her social media pages sent to Bonner and her family via social media and personal cell phone numbers. Bonner said she has shared all of these messages with Mercury security, who she said told her they have been in touch with Phoenix police. She added that she feels supported by the Mercury, who “had my back.” The Mercury declined to comment.
Bonner said she has received increasing harassment since she started last season with the Fever.
After signing a one-year deal with Indiana as an unrestricted free agent in 2025, Bonner played in nine games before being ruled out due to “personal reasons.” She missed five games and was ultimately waived by the Fever on June 25, 2025. The fit between Bonner and the Fever was “off” from the beginning, according to multiple sources at the time. She subsequently signed with the Mercury as a free agent.
Bonner, who is in her 17th WNBA season, said she received an unprecedented onslaught of online harassment after she left the Fever, and “it hasn’t stopped.” She said she also hasn’t been in touch with the commissioner.
“I haven’t heard from Cathy in years,” Bonner told The Athletic. “Not even after I’ve reported the threats and racial slurs I received after parting ways with the Fever last year.”
Wednesday’s game was the second of two consecutive meetings between the Mercury and the Fever. In the first game last Monday, Bonner and Fever guard Sophie Cunningham engaged in a heated exchange that resulted in a viral finger-pointing moment between them. Bonner said she received a message with an image of this incident that had been manipulated to include a racial slur.
Thomas said there’s a dichotomy in the league’s attempts to prioritize player safety on the court while ignoring their concerns off the court. Despite the league introducing a “No Space For Hate” platform prior to the 2025 season, many players say they still face online harassment.
The reason the WNBA always has controversies
Thomas, a 13-year veteran and six-time All-Star, said this is the worst harassment she has experienced in her WNBA career — even worse than two years ago as a Connecticut Sun player competing in the playoffs against the Fever when she spoke about the racism she said she observed from Fever fans.
“The WNBA vehemently condemns any and all forms of hate,” Engelbert said in an email statement to The Athletic on Tuesday. “The safety and well-being of everyone in our community is always the league’s top priority. We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments, and what she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community. The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all players.”
Said Thomas: “It’s time for them to step up and have our backs in these instances.”
