If you have a brain in your cranium, you probably don’t hate on Angel Reese — or her Chicago Sky teammate Chennedy Carter— because of their race, like some rage baiters online and on TV try to make their villainous narrative out to be.
You probably developed a dislike for Carter when she took a cheap shot at Caitlin Clark. Nary anyone in the country knew her name until then. You’ve also probably disliked Reese for how petty and publicly critical she’s been of Clark over the past couple of years
Angel Reese deleted her tweet attacking Caitlin Clark.
Clark made the WNBA relevant for the first time ever, and all anyone does is try to tear her down. pic.twitter.com/xGxC7vQ8ny
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) May 24, 2024
Good thing screenshots are forever, eh? Since X/Twitter likes are now hidden and adult content is flying around the platform at unprecedented rates. Thanks, Elon.
When Clark came to the WNBA, so did record numbers of fans. Not to say there aren’t other good women’s basketball players, but Clark’s style of play has captured the attention of many more millions of people than anyone else in the ladies’ game combined in recent years. So it was a little bit of weird energy when Carter, for instance, asked aloud on social media what else Clark brings to the table besides 3-point shooting.
Rivalries are good when they’re heated and decided on the court. That concept seemed to elude Angel Reese and Carter as they continued to spout nonsense to minimize the undeniable reality that Clark has single-handedly elevated women’s basketball beyond their wildest imaginations in such a short span of time.
So now that all that is out of the way in an effort to preemptively diffuse toxic discourse, let’s carry on to what happened Sunday. Reese looked like a superstar with 25 points and 16 boards. Carter poured in 23 of her own points amid a continued resurgent season after several years of underachieving. And guess what? In their third meeting of the season, the Sky finally beat Clark’s Fever by one.
Wouldn’t you know it? No ignorant comments directed toward Clark afterwards. Just Reese celebrating her win, making it all about the team, and giving props especially to Carter, who she’s really grown close to as a rookie.
They might be the most lit duo on the planet right about now 🌎
Angel Reese went off for a career-high 25 PTS and secured 16 REB while Chennedy Carter added in 23 PTS
Both Reese and Carter shot 66.7% from the field #WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/hL8fhIGy91
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 23, 2024
Hey ESPN, can I get a little better transcription on that? Thanks!
Angel Reese is HER 😤 pic.twitter.com/UMCHRQKKgA
— ESPN (@espn) June 23, 2024
Another reason I’ve often been critical of Reese in this space is because she frequently plays near the rim since she’s such an excellent rebounder, yet she entered Sunday’s contest shooting worse from the field than Clark. That strikes me as not very efficient. And that’s why it was annoying to hear Reese continue to mouth off about her arch-nemesis, whereas Clark continued to take the high road.
Haven’t heard or seen anything from Reese or Carter to detract from the brilliant afternoon they had on the court — and that’s for the best.
They might be the most lit duo on the planet right about now 🌎
Angel Reese went off for a career-high 25 PTS and secured 16 REB while Chennedy Carter added in 23 PTS
Both Reese and Carter shot 66.7% from the field #WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/hL8fhIGy91
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 23, 2024
To some degree, Reese won me over in this game. I mean, naturally, she couldn’t resist reposting this from the Sky’s main X account:
“bUt wHy dO ThE ChIcAgO SkY HaTe tHe fEvEr? ThEy pLaY ToO HaRd. tHeY TaLk tOo mUcH. ThEy sHoUlD'Ve lEt tHeM WiN fOr ThE sAkE oF—” *transmission ends*
anyways, back to our original programming:
WE DON’T CARE BOUT NONE OF THAT. SKY ON TOP#skytown pic.twitter.com/93hludCnbW
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) June 23, 2024
But hey, that’s pretty tame and classy in comparison to how Reese has carried herself in head-to-head duels with Clark in the past.
Not that Clark was some scrub in this epic showdown. She dished out a Fever franchise-record 13 assists and canned five 3-pointers for 17 points to go with six rebounds and four steals. Had Clark been a little more assertive as a scorer toward the end, perhaps we’re talking about a different outcome.
Sky forward Brianna Turner brought some of her own fiery energy to X with this postgame tweet:
Angel Reese. 25 points, 16 rebounds, but most importantly a Win.
Make sure the apology is just as loud as the disrespect 🤭
— Brianna Turner (@_Breezy_Briii) June 23, 2024
I reckon that’ll be the prevailing sentiment from those who are firmly in the pro-Angel camp. The disrespect toward Reese, at least from me and I’m sure countless others who hold similar opinions, was never about her on-court ability. It was about the pettiness that seems so prevalent around the WNBA toward Clark.
Credit where it’s due, Angel acted like she’d been there before on Sunday. Let her play do the talking. Said all the right things. Same goes for Chennedy Carter. That’s how you earn respect more than anything else. Although they may still underestimate how much Clark has set the stage for them to shine, Reese and Carter were the big stars on this occasion in the Windy City.
