One of the most common narratives within the 2025 WNBA season was the physicality that the league’s players were subject to by their peers. This has been a hotly debated topic ever since Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark entered the WNBA in 2024 and quickly was on the receiving end of this physicality, many instances of which resulted in flagrant fouls. This narrative continued in 2025. And it reached new heights when Clark’s Fever team faced the Connecticut Sun on June 17, when Clark was shoved to the ground by Marina Mabrey in the third quarter. Mabrey did this because Clark was in a tussle with Jacy Sheldon after Sheldon poked Clark in the eye while playing defense. Tensions intensified one quarter later, when Cunningham grabbed Sheldon and threw her to the ground while Sheldon went for a layup. This sparked a brief brawl between Indiana and Connecticut and got both Cunningham and Sheldon ejected. And in the aftermath of this, one of the top topics within the women’s basketball sphere was whether Cunn
