Angel Reese says WNBA hype is about more than Caitlin Clark: ‘Because of me too’

In an obvious dig at Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese claimed that the rising reputation surrounding the WNBA could be attributed to more than only one participant and that she deserves some credit score.

“I’ll look again in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the rationale we’re watching girls’s basketball is not simply because of one particular person,'” she instructed reporters Monday evening. “It’s as a result of of me too, and I need you all to understand that.”

Reese added that the current hype across the WNBA truly stems from a so-called rivalry that started in faculty when Reese and the LSU Tigers defeated Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes within the NCAA championship recreation two years in the past. It’s then that Reese stated she was OK with being labeled the “unhealthy man” within the rivalry if which means the recognition of girls’s basketball continues to develop.

“It all began from the nationwide championship recreation, and I’ve been coping with this for 2 years now,” Reese stated. “And understanding like, yeah destructive issues have most likely been stated about me however truthfully I’ll take that. Because look the place girls’s basketball is. People are speaking about girls’s basketball that you simply by no means would assume can be speaking about girls’s basketball.”

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Reese’s feedback got here simply days after she and Clark confronted off for the primary time within the WNBA. But that too was a match that did not finish with out some drama.

During the Fever’s 71-70 win over Chicago, Clark obtained a blindside shoulder shot from Reese’s teammate Chennedy Carter that despatched her stumbling to the hardwood. After the sport, each Reese and Carter refused to reply questions about the foul, with Reese being fined $1,000 by the league for not even exhibiting as much as handle the media.

ESPN host Pat McAfee additionally discovered himself entwined within the controversy for feedback he made about the feud, referring to Clark as a “White b****” who is the “money cow” behind the rising WNBA fandom. Within hours of the rant, McAfee took to social media to apologize.

“My intentions when saying it have been complimentary identical to your complete phase, however so much of of us are saying that it definitely wasn’t in any respect,” he stated. “That’s 100% on me and for that I apologize.”