The Indiana Fever have barely made it out of the storm of negative narratives, but the Scott Agness story continues. Earlier this month, the franchise’s PR team blocked the veteran insider’s credentialed access to the roster after he reported “inaccurate and unsubstantiated information” regarding star guard Caitlin Clark. Fast forward to now, and he has cleared his stance once again, and it wasn’t for money.

“That’s journalism 101. If I have reporting out there, I’m gonna put it out there once I’ve done the due diligence on that,” Agness addressed his side of the story on his Fieldhouse Files. “And I also add in whatever the team has to share. There’s two sides to all this, and so I did. By the way, I want to mention, I wasn’t even trying to profit off this. I didn’t even put it behind a paywall. Even though it was unique information, nobody out there has even added on to it, quite frankly. The point here was, you wanted to clarify this situation.

“I’m sure you’ve seen how I employed a photographer for many games. Already was at the game this year and was scheduled to be at the next one to capture these photos. I don’t put those behind the paywalls as well. That’s additional free coverage and is definitely negative for my bottom line because I pay him.”

Agness has been with the Pacers Sports & Entertainment for two decades now and has been extensively covering the Fever after the NBA team revoked his access a few years ago. He established himself with the Fieldhouse Files earlier this decade, emphasizing his love for covering his state basketball teams, which came at a cost — Agness does not work for any publishing house and is an independent reporter. This means, if anything goes wrong, he will be the one paying for it, as in this case.

When it did, though, he continued to explain all sides of the story to his fans through his website. As expected, everything was free to access instead of being hidden behind a paywall. Here’s what he had to say:

The whole story

On May 20, about two hours before Indiana’s game with the Portland Fire, the Fever added Clark’s name to the injury list for back issues. She had already not practiced the day before. However, such reporting violates the WNBA’s transparency protocols, which require teams to release their final injury reports a day before the game.

Agness received the information from his trusted sources and tweeted Clark’s availability status, mentioning that it is a “strategic management plan,” considering the point guard faced as many as six different injuries last season. The team, however, didn’t take this information lightly.

Head coach Stephanie White insisted that Caitlin Clark‘s absence was the result of a sudden, acute back issue. And that it’s not any kind of broader, premeditated health management strategy. Agness’ take on “strategic management plan,” however, is where things fell apart.

The team strictly denied any such management plan, but has since put Clark on their IR as a probable player. For Agness, that’s exactly what he meant by “strategic management plan.” If anything, he denies that he wanted to put the team under any more pressure than it already has.

“I was actually trying to help the situation beyond the reporting,” he said.

Yet, the franchise banned the independent journalist via email. The team’s PR division has not yet responded to Agness for any further clarification, as he claimed in his coverage of the whole saga.

Since then, the Fever’s decision has faced backlash from nearly every big-name reporter who started just like Agness. Most notably, the Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA) released an official public reprimand

Despite everything and the revoked access, Agness maintains that he will continue to cover the Fever simply out of the fact that he is a journalist and he wants the fans to see every angle of a story. For now, all he wants is for the Fever’s PE team to reach out and give him his access back:

“Nobody needed to look bad in this situation. Let’s just have a conversation. Let’s agree on the situation, and let’s move forward. There’s so many great stories to tell.”