It has been more than three weeks since the Caitlin Clark-Alyssa Thomas incident took place. Yet rather than showing any signs of slowing down, the debate around it just keeps on growing. The latest twist in this conversation is Adam Silver, who, according to a Sports Business Journal report, privately urged WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert to suspend Thomas following the June 24 incident. But when the NBA commissioner was finally asked about his involvement, he refused to confirm or deny anything.

“I’m not going to comment on that, because I don’t think it’s fair to Caitlin – and to Cathy Engelbert either,” Silver said while speaking at the CNBC/Boardroom Game Plan event on Thursday.

It is worth noting here that a WNBA spokesperson had earlier refuted the SBJ’s report, and Silver did acknowledge that WNBA officiating does need improvement. Still, as Silver continued:

“I think that’s not the real issue here. What people are trying to make a larger issue around that – not as to whether that was a flagrant foul or not. Obviously, the league decided after the fact that not only should a foul have been called, but it was a flagrant foul.”

When Thomas made contact with Caitlin Clark’s throat while trying to get up during a loose-ball scramble in the second quarter of a game between the Indiana Fever and the Phoenix Mercury, the officials failed to assess a foul call in real time. At first, that was what the debate was all about.

But everything quickly started spiraling when a part of the fanbase started pointing to the incident as proof that the WNBA veterans are targeting the 24-year-old. From there, the conversation kept growing as politicians, media personalities, and several public figures started weighing in, turning a basketball play into something much bigger than the game itself. Another ugly side of it all came out when the Mercury forward and her family received explicit threats. 

“That particular incident is not about whether a foul should have been called at the time of the game or whether that was ultimately a flagrant non-review,” he added. “I’ve come to know Caitlin really well. She’s an incredible player and also an incredible person. And she wants to focus on being the best player she can. And she’s become a bit of a political football in this country, and I think it’s incredibly unfair to her.”

Thomas eventually ended up receiving a one-game suspension after the league upgraded the play to a Flagrant 2. But that wasn’t enough to put an end to the conversation, with the Mercury star becoming a focal point of online abuse in the weeks that followed. So more than three weeks later, that same debate is still far from over.