What happened: The WNBA suspended Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas one game for making contact with Caitlin Clark's throat during the teams' recent meeting. The league ruled the contact crossed the line from a hard foul into a suspendable act, and Thomas has already served the one-game ban.

Why it matters: Any absence for Thomas, the engine of Phoenix's offense, matters in a tightly packed 2026 WNBA regular-season race. The incident also deepens an already charged storyline: Thomas has publicly criticized the league's handling of the fallout and said she received death threats and racial slurs after the play involving Clark.

What to watch: Watch how the Mercury respond in their next stretch of games with Thomas back in the lineup, and whether the league addresses her public criticism of how the incident was handled.