Dave Portnoy is calling for a WNBA official to be fired or suspended for giving Indiana Fever rookie prospect Caitlin Clark a technical foul and reprimanding her for hitting a pole on Sunday.
Clark set the league’s record for assists in her first season in the 92-75 win over the Seattle Storm, but much of the postgame discussion centered on her technique and her exchange with official Tyler Ricks.
“I got a technical because I was mad at myself for missing a 3-pointer,” Clark said after her 23-point, 9-assist performance in the win. “And then I hit the backboard and he said that was disrespectful to the game of basketball.”
She went on to say that she had to thank Ricks for inspiring her remarkable performance in the second half.
Portnoy—a diehard Clark fan who recently bet $100,000 on the Fever winning this year’s WNBA title—was less forgiving. As he wrote on X, Portnoy believes Ricks “should be suspended or fired.”
Portnoy calls for WNBA official to be fired or suspended after he gave Clark a technical foul
Caitlin Clark was told by a referee during Sunday’s match that she was ‘disrespectful to the game’
Officially, Tyler Ricks Clark was given a technical foul for hitting the upright after missing a three-pointer
El Presidente’s loyal army, the Stoolies, agreed to this.
“Fired,” one fan wrote on X. “Clearly a lunatic.”
“Fired,” another added. “In public.”
One of the supporters suggested to Portnoy that he would pay any fine Clark might receive himself.
“These referees are soft,” was a comment more or less echoed by countless other Stoolies.
The moment ultimately didn’t hurt Fever, who went 11-16 up while the Storm went 17-10.
Portnoy is obviously excited to see the Fever improve, especially since he bet $100,000 on the team winning the WNBA title this season, and did so when the odds were 1 in 100.
Portnoy has $100,000 on Clark’s Indiana Fever winning the WNBA title in 2024
Clark broke the record previously held by Ticha Penicheiro with her 225th assist of the season
That means Portnoy could win $10 million if the Fever defy all odds to win the national title.
“Seattle, they’re 17-9, one of the better teams, we’ll blow them away!” Portnoy said in a homemade video during the Fever’s victory on Sunday. “20 points up, we’ll blow them away!”
“I’m telling you, I hope you jumped in, the $10 million guy, what’s the score Dave, 87-71,” Portnoy continued. “Now let’s see what the odds are on the Indiana Fever winning the championship.”
On Monday, DraftKings put the Fever’s title odds at 35-to-1.
The current favorites are New York Liberty (3/2) (23-4) and reigning champion Las Vegas Aces (17-9) (17-10).
The Fever have won their last two games and will play the Minnesota Lynx and Atlanta Dream on the road on August 24 and 26.
Indiana is seventh in the league and third in the Eastern Conference.
“I think I could have gotten my composure back, but that’s the fire and the passion that just drives me,” Clark continued. “It’s just finding a way to channel that, use that, and I think I did a really good job of that at the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth quarter.”
Clark has now committed five technical fouls this season, putting her just two T’s away from an automatic one-game suspension.
