There has been a constant conversation on the internet and social media regarding the “rivalry” between Chicago Sky star Angel Reese and Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark that has been heightened once again. Both Reese and Clark have been selected to the WNBA All-Star game where they will be on the same team competing against the USA Women's National team as comments from the rookies have brought back up each of their attitudes.
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Reactions to Sky's Angel Reese and Fever's Caitlin Clark are different
In a ClutchPoints Instagram post, it would show parts of two quotes from the stars where Clark said that she is “excited to share the court honestly with everybody.” As for Reese, the part that was highlighted was when she said “everybody can wear their get-along shirts for one day at least” according to Chloe Peterson regarding the intense competition in the WNBA during the regular season.
This has sparked a polarizing reaction from fans and general observers of the WNBA where there was some attacking Reese for her attitude and some thinking that it was not a big deal in the slightest. Starting with the former opinion, one user under the ClutchPoints social media post in “ash_reefa2x” would even say that “Yeah I can’t defend shorty no more, her attitude stinks.”
Another user in “p0sta” would accuse of Reese playing up the “villain” role in this situation which would make Clark the “hero” figure to some people. Reese and Clark have been connected with each other ever since their days in college where Clark's Iowa and Reese's LSU would have historic battles in back to back years in the national tournament, specifically in the national championship and Elite Eight in respective years.
“Angel Reese swear she’s the villain and thinks she’s “built for this” but will get in front of the world and cry and play victim like she did after losing in the Elite 8,” the Instagram user said.
Reese said herself that she is glad to take “villain role”
This was even mentioned by the Sky forward at one point where she said with the heightened popularity of women's basketball, she will gladly take that villain role and expressed that people are “watching” not just because of “one person” which is obviously in reference to the No. 1 overall pick in the last WNBA Draft according to CNN.
“People are pulling up to games, we got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas, just because of [the 2023 NCAA championship game],” Reese said. “And just looking at that, I’ll take that role. I’ll take the bad guy role, and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates.”
“I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person,” Reese continued. “It’s because of me too,’ and I want y’all to realize that.”
Fans on social media defending Reese from the negativity
However, it was not all hate towards the star player in Reese who is averaging 13.5 points and 12 rebounds per game. There was also some users under the post defending her statements even with one user named “dimitri.erv” who said there is a double standard with the WNBA and NBA.
“She’s intense,” the user said. “Same people who complain about NBA players being too buddy buddy complaining about her attitude. The internet really a miserable place.”
Then at the end of the day, there is a good chance that the quote was not meant to be taken serious and is it another case of the internet interpreting the statement into a negative impact. One account in “itsmorethanaparty” would even pick up on that and say that “see some of y'all are a bit delayed…CLEARLY she’s being sarcastic.”
Clark shares how special it will be to team up with Reese
Looking at the full quotes though, it is clear that both players are excited to team up together for likely the first time together as before they were pitted as these two rookie rivals. Even Clark would say that it is going to “be fun” to “share this experience” with Reese according to ClutchPoints' Fever reporter in Matthew Byrne.
“Yea, it's gonna be fun,” Clark said Friday. “I think obviously as two rookies, getting to share this experience with one another for the first time like it's super rare to be here as a rookie. And then to have two of us here, I think it's really great overall, obviously I think the fans are going to really be excited about it, but I'm excited to share the court honestly with everybody like meeting new people, this is my first experience here obviously just getting to know them over the course of the weekend and enjoying the experience.”
Angel Reese hopes more team ups with Caitlin Clark come in the future
As for Reese, she further commented on the news of her teaming up with Clark which should make the people who think she is playing the “victim” feel like they didn't see the full picture. Besides saying that it will be “really cool” for the two rookie phenoms to be on the same team, she is hoping that once the major event comes back around in 2028, that they can “be Olympians together too” according to a conversation with Malika Andrews of ESPN.
“It's gonna be really cool. I know so many fans are gonna come out to watch both of us, but I know a lot of people are just gonna be able to come to Phoenix,” Reese said.
“I'm sure it's already sold out,” Reese continued. “So being able to be in that environment, we're gonna be playing together for a while, so this is not gonna be the first time….hopefully 2028 we will be Olympians together too, so being able to enjoy this, I'm going to Paris too to go watch the Olympics. I'm excited for that too.”
Along with the impressive statistics of Reese as mentioned before, Clark is averaging 17.1 points, 8.2 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from beyond the arch. At any rate, the WNBA All-Star game takes place Saturday night as Reese, Clark, and others as a part of Team WNBA will take on the USA women's basketball team filled with top stars.
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