More people than usual are paying attention to the Women’s National Basketball Association this week.

And if you have been on social media, you have probably seen the photo.

You know the one.

Caitlin Clark is on the floor, and Alyssa Thomas has a fist near her neck. It is the kind of still shot that makes people fire off a Facebook post before the next commercial break.

But here is the thing about still photos: They do not always tell the whole story.

Watch the video.

When contact is made around the neck area, officials and leagues are going to look at it closely, and they should.

But the way that one picture has been passed around makes it look like Thomas wound up from the cheap seats and delivered a WWE finisher in the middle of a basketball game.

That is not exactly what the video shows.

From a referee’s standpoint, Clark would be a handful to officiate. She is talented, competitive and tough. She also sells contact, throws her hands up and likes to poke the bear.

Great players learn how to hunt contact. They learn how to put defenders in bad spots. They learn how to influence officials’ decision-making. Clark is very good at a lot of things, and one of them is making contact look worse than it is.

There are moments where she absolutely deserves a whistle.

There are also moments where the acting department might need to hand out an Oscar.

Both can be true.

That is where a lot of the conversation around Clark gets messy. Some fans have decided she is being targeted every time she hits the floor. Others are so tired of hearing about her that they do not want to admit when she actually takes a hard foul.

The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, which is not nearly as fun for the internet.

Clark has taken some hard fouls. There have been questionable plays against her. The league has to protect its players, stars included. Nobody wants to see the biggest draw in the women’s game getting knocked around with no consequences.

But not every collision is a conspiracy.

If people actually watched full games instead of viral clips, they would see how physical the WNBA is. They would also see Clark that drives into defenders, complains a lot, wears her emotions on her sleeve and gives officials plenty to sort through.

That does not make her a villain.

It makes her a basketball player.

But it also means she is not above criticism.

What has been interesting to watch is who suddenly has so much to say about the WNBA. Some folks who could not name five players in league history are now experts on who is jealous, who is dirty and who should be suspended for life.

That part bothers me.

Because some of the reaction does not feel like it is only about basketball. People are watching these clips with a full set of assumptions already packed and ready to go. They are not studying the play. They are picking a side, assigning heroes and villains, and letting the same old undertones do the rest.

That is dangerous for the league and unfair to the players.

But handing down a suspension, I believe, was incorrect. Her momentum took her fist into her neck as she was pushing off her shoulder.

So the punishment only empowers what the photo shows and not the video. I am glad Thomas’ Mercury teammates are standing up for her.

Clark has brought new eyes to women’s basketball. That is a good thing. New viewers bring new money, new coverage and new opportunities. But new viewers also bring new noise.

And right now, there is a lot of it.

Sophie Cunningham has been loud in defense of her teammate, and that is what teammates do. But let us not act like the Fever are saints out there. They have handed out their own hard fouls. They talk. They push.

So at what point is it no longer a basketball play?

That is the question officials have to answer in real time.

And let me tell you, it is not as easy as people think.

Officials miss calls. Players embellish. Fans see what they want to see. Social media grabs the worst possible frame and turns it into evidence.

That is sports in 2026.

I appreciate what Clark has done for women’s basketball. She has changed the conversation. She has put more eyes on the league. She has little girls watching, talking and dreaming bigger.

She can be great and dramatic.

She can be good for the league and frustrating to officiate.

She can take hard fouls and still sell a few extra.

The WNBA does not need every Clark collision to turn into a culture war. It needs people to watch the games, learn the players and understand the difference between physical basketball and a non-basketball play.

So before sharing the photo, watch the video.

And before deciding the entire league is out to get one player, maybe learn a few more names.

Brittni McCoy is the sports editor at the Mountain Citizen.