Angel Reese is pushing back on the idea that Caitlin Clark is being unfairly targeted by her fellow WNBA players — and made sure the world knows that she’s also a star.
Reese, 22, spoke to reporters on Monday, June 3, since the Chicago Sky’s loss to the Indiana Fever on Saturday, June 1. During that game, Reese’s teammate Chennedy Carter forcefully knocked Clark, 22, to the ground, sparking a debate about whether players are intentionally going after the former Iowa superstar.
“When we go out there and play super hard, compete every single day, it’s not personal,” Reese said on Monday. “I promise you it’s based off of our stories and where we’ve come from. We’ve come from so many places that you guys have never seen or would never understand, so just being able to go out there and play with that chip on our shoulder every single night, that’s just what we do and that’s just who we are.”
Reese also pushed back on the narrative that Clark is solely responsible for the recent popularity of women’s basketball.
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“I think so many people are watching women’s basketball right now. It all started from the [2023] national championship game,” Reese said, referring to the game where her LSU Tigers defeated Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes. “I’ve been dealing with this for two years now. And understanding, like, yeah negative things have probably been said about me, but honestly, I’ll take that, because look where women’s basketball is. … 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, and I know I’ll go down in history.”
She continued: “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, it’s because of me too.’ And I want y’all to realize that. Like it’s just not ’cause of one person. A lot of us have done so much for this game. Chennedy has been here before obviously, but there are so many great players in this league that have deserved this for a really, really long time, and luckily, it’s coming now.”
After Carter’s foul against Clark on Saturday, Reese was spotted jumping up from the Sky’s bench and clapping her hands. After the game, Reese refused to speak to the media and was fined $1,000 for making herself unavailable. Her team was also fined an additional $5,000 for her absence.
Carter, meanwhile, spoke to the press but declined to answer questions about Clark. On Monday, Carter said that she was happy she chose to wait to share her thoughts because “heat of the moment answering is not probably the best answer.”
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Carter, 25, also denied that she had crossed a “line” with her foul on Clark.
“There’s no line,” she told reporters. “I’m competing. I’m gonna compete. I’ve already let you know, I’m gonna compete. If you’re going to throw punches first, I’m gonna compete. It’s all love. It’s basketball. This happens in the NBA. Actually, I’m focused on [our game against] New York now. I’m not really focused on that play anymore. It happened, OK? It’s just basketball. It just happened. It’s over. I don’t know why we’re dragging [it out].”
