Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark scored 27 points as she led her team past the top-seeded team in the WNBA. However, it was her interaction with one of the coaches on the bench that drew focus from her performance.

Clark’s team defeated the Minnesota Lynx with a 96-77 score, and video captured the reaction of Indiana Fever assistant coach Briann January to Clark.

"This coach is yelling at Caitlin Clark again," the account Hero Of The Day wrote on X. "There's no excuse for some nobody to be speaking to the face of the league like this. Caitlin Clark has 10/5/5 and is a plus 11 tonight; what is her problem?"

This frustration was rooted in how well Clark had been playing. In this game, Clark finished with 27 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds, statistics that showed how out of touch with her performance the heated discussion was.

It should be noted that this was not an isolated incident of sideline tension between Clark and Indiana’s coaching staff either. It happened only two days after she had been seen yelling at Indiana’s head coach Stephanie White in the team’s 93-77 loss to the Washington Mystics.

Clark and January also have a documented history of tension beyond Tuesday's clip. The two were seen in a heated exchange during a timeout in late August against the Connecticut Sun, after a defensive breakdown led to an easy Connecticut layup.

This video clip brought back frustration among Fever fans who believe that the coaching staff has been singling out Clark even though she has been the key offensive player for the team in their tough playoff fight.

Fans React To Briann January And Caitlin Clark's Latest Sideline Clash

"She thinks she is more important than CC," said a fan.

January showed a lot of animated body language because Clark ended the game against Minnesota with 27 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds. Fans could not figure out how a coach could show such aggressive behavior towards a player performing close to a triple-double.

Another said, "January needs to be fired too. She is a liability @IndianaFever. Most of these coaches on the Fever bench are terrible."

Clark even had a similar clash with the head coach, Stephanie White, two days prior to Tuesday during Indiana’s loss against Washington. In fact, the fans view such repetitive clashes as a coach problem and not an isolated case.

A fan stated, “She is always yelling at CC!!!”

January and Clark had an argument during a break against Connecticut in late August. It was another instance that the fans noticed, along with Tuesday’s video. Both these instances make the fans believe that this is now a repetitive matter.”

"I actually thought for a second it was something good," was another reaction.

Indiana had an easy lead, and Clark had been playing well, so people anticipated a good interaction rather than what seemed to be a deliberate altercation on camera amid a dominating victory.

One person commented, "Soon they will have new coaches."

The Indiana coaching staff is now under increasing pressure considering the ongoing conflict between both January and head coach Stephanie White, especially since the Fever are currently fifth place in their playoff standings with just one game remaining.

The continual sideline issues make people wonder about the coaching of the Fever amid their playoff positioning, making this issue a mystery before Indiana plays Minnesota in their last regular-season game.

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Written by

Utsav Gupta

Edited by

Utsav Gupta