The competition is stiff between two of the most talented rookies in the WNBA for the Rookie of the Year Award. Seeing as how the league’s 12 teams are almost at the midpoint of the 40-game schedules, the debates about the best players are arising, and at the forefront of the rookie conversations are Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but which one of them will bag the trophy?

The rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has existed during their college days and now has stretched into the world of the WNBA. Clark of the Indiana Fever is a household name due to her massive following while Reese has gained a lot of popularity in her own ways as well. The conversation for the WNBA Rookie of the Year swings between the two and, as per Skip Bayless, he’d choose the latter, and here’s why.

Skip Bayless chooses Angel Reese over Caitlin Clark

During the 8th July episode of the Undisputed show, Skip Bayless analyzed the skills of both Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese but ultimately chose the Chicago Sky player as his pick for the ROY award, going against the general tendency to favor Caitlin Clark.

While listing out his likeness for Clark but eventually picking Reese, Bayless said, ” If I had to pick somebody right now, I would have to at the halfway point, go with Angel over Caitlin. The reason is, that Caitlin’s specialty is shooting 3-pointer shots, that’s what she does at the Steph Curry kind of level. I look at what Angel has done on the offensive glass. It’s beyond comprehensible to me that she has 35 more offensive rebounds than anybody in the league as a rookie.” 

The sports commentator might be displeasing the majority of the WNBA fans with his hot take but that’s usually a given for Bayless since he tends to have a contradiction to popular opinion. With that being said, let’s take a look at the odds that are out for the 2024 WNBA ROY Award, which is predicting Bayless’ pick to be off by a landslide.

Caitlin Clark is leading the odds for the 2024 ROY Award

Before we check the odds, it is interesting to note that Caitlin Clark was the 2024 number 1 overall pick and is now the first rookie in the WNBA to record a triple-double which occurred in the Fever’s win over the New York Liberty on the 6th July. Moreover, it is also safe to say that with Clark’s arrival to the WNBA, she brought in a hoard of fans and viewers with her since she’s such a star to watch. As such, it’s not too shocking to see that the odds for the Rookie of the Year trophy favor her more so than anyone, even Angel Reese.

As per the odds, Caitlin Clark of Indiana Fever leads the pack with -700 odds to win it. With the award looking like it’s going to her name by a majority, here’s where Angel Reese stands. The former LSU player is just inches below Clark when it comes to her stats this season. Additionally, Reese even tied Candace Parker’s WNBA record with 12 consecutive double-doubles against the Seattle Storm but as far as her odds for the award go, she’s miles behind Clark with a number of +400. Thus, the polls do dictate Clark’s dominance over Reese but if it were up to Bayless, he’d award the Sky prodigy to lift the trophy instead.