Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have often been pitted against one another in their blossoming careers, but the rivals look set to become teammates in an upcoming exhibition.
A team of WNBA All-Stars will face the USA women’s Olympic squad before they leave for Paris, and both Clark and Reese are among the top vote getters for the squad.
Clark, who was controversially snubbed from the Olympic squad, is the second-highest All-Star vote getter with 216,427 while Reese is seventh with 118,490. In reality, the Chicago Sky center is even higher among players who will suit up for the WNBA All-Star team.
A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu are above her but will play for the USA side. The game will be played in Phoenix on July 20.
Clark and Reese, who competed collegiately at Iowa and LSU, have seen their rivalry continued in the pros, with the Sky rookie cheering on a teammate’s body check of Clark earlier this season.
The two made headlines again last weekend when Reese caught Clark’s face with a hard flagrant foul, though Clark defended it as a ‘part of basketball.’ Following that play, former NFL player Robert Griffin III said on X the pair were being ‘used in a race war.’
He added that it wasn’t ‘fair to either athlete or the game of basketball.’ Meanwhile, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith declined to use the ‘race war’ characterization when asked about that phrasing on his eponymous show.
Caitlin Clark is fouled while driving to the basket pic.twitter.com/U9TvoFUoD3
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) June 16, 2024
‘I don’t think so, but that’s a valid question,’ he began a segment on the ‘Stephen A. Smith Show. ‘You could say race but the reality is that it wasn’t really any kind of warfare until … Angel Reese met Caitlin Clark in the NCAA tournament and smoked her with LSU,’ he said of the 2023 college championship.
‘Angel Reese is a proud black woman who doesn’t run from any noise and so when you look at that, that’s what I think it’s about. You can say race, I think it’s styles,’ he went on.
Clark’s Fever are 2-0 vs. the Sky this season, and the two teams will meet again on Sunday.
