Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese had been pitted by fans as rivals all the way back from their college days, to their days at the WNBA. While they do compete against each other on separate teams, the Indiana Fever star set the record straight on the real status of their relationship off the court.
In her interview with TIME, Caitlin Clark touched on the topic of the rivalry between her and Chicago Sky star Angel Reese. To her, fans always pitting them against each other doesn’t make sense.
“I don’t get that at all,” Clark said. “We’re not best friends, by any means, but we’re very respectful of one another. Yes, we have had tremendous battles. But when have I ever guarded her? And when has she guarded me?”
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Clark also described the supposed tension between her and Reese as a “controversy that was really fabricated and made up.”
Angel Reese on Playing With Caitlin Clark Again: “2028 We’ll Be Olympians”
From the perspective of Chicago Sky star Angel Reese, the rivalry between her and Caitlin Clark is a normal part of sports, especially basketball. It has been a huge part of games in men’s basketball, and thus she believes it should be normalized in women’s basketball, too.
In an earlier interview with WSJ, Reese discussed how she and Caitlin Clark had been competing against each other for a long time now, and how she feels that it’s okay for women to trash-talk each other in sports, just like how men do it in theirs.
“Me and Caitlin have been playing against each other since we were kids,” Reese said. “It’s just a full circle moment of how women are viewed when it comes to trash-talking and it’s okay, in men’s sport. So we’re going to normalize that in women’s sports as well. It’s just super competitive.”
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Besides being rivals, Reese and Clark also played together for the 2024 WNBA All-Star games. Reese believes that this won’t be the last time they will play together, and she hopes to be with Clark for the 2028 Olympics.
“We’re going to be playing together for a while so this is not gonna be the [last] time. I know we’ll be All-Stars again,” Reese said. “And hopefully, [in] 2028 we’ll be Olympians together.”
Caitlin Clark also tried her luck to make it for the 2024 Paris Olympics but was excluded from the US national team roster. Still, the WNBA Rookie of the Year said that making for the 2028 team “is a huge, huge goal” for her.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
