Did Caitlin Clark injure back on reckless closeout in Mercury game?

Did Indiana Fever superstar guard Caitlin Clark injure her back on a reckless closeout from Phoenix Mercury forward Valériane Ayayi on Wednesday night?
During the home Fever loss, Ayayi didn’t give Clark enough space to land following a 3-point attempt, as you can see in the video Clark’s foot touching Ayayi’s foot, a clear no-no that should be a landing space violation resulting in a Flagrant 1 foul.
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However, the refs just assessed Ayayi the common foul and reviewed the play to see if there was a hostile act from Clark with her arm making contact with Ayayi during the collision.
It’s one thing to go back to the video to review if this was a landing space violation; it’s another for the refs to go to the replay table to see if Clark’s arm made contact with Ayayi in a “hostile act” during a reckless closeout.
Clark exited the game in the third quarter and didn’t return with a back injury, and the video above shows Clark grabbing at her back after the landing space violation.
Fever coach Stephanie White had every right to be mad with how this game was called; the fact that the refs reviewed this play for a possible Clark hostile act and only gave Ayayi a common foul is just baffling.
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Between this and the missed Alyssa Thomas push on Clark’s neck, the refs just dropped the ball on officiating Clark fairly on Wednesday.
As of now, we don’t know.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Did Caitlin Clark injure back on reckless closeout in Mercury game?
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