The former Louisiana State University Lady Tigers star Angel Reese began her WNBA season with a consecutive double-double record (15). She came closer to being declared the frontrunner in the Rookie of the Year award race, but her rival Caitlin Clark dished out a WNBA high of 19 assists against the Dallas Wings. The competition resulted in each of them taking steps towards the ROTY award. As a solution, some fans and media outlets suggest that both should be co-declared the ROTY considering they have put in equal sweat. However, the idea didn’t go down well with an ESPN analyst.

Elle Duncan was present in her namesake show The Elle Duncan Show on Saturday when she went livid while discussing the possibility of the rookies sharing the award. A straightforward Duncan didn’t want the voting authorities, both fans and officials, to have a diplomatic view of the award and she put forth her perspective.

“I’m 100% with you. I am not a big fan of co-anything. I think it’s a cop-out and it feels like a consolation to me. Feels a lot like after LSU won the national championship last year and then First Lady Jill Biden was like well, maybe, we can invite Iowa too. Hell no. The whole point of the voters is that you have to make tough decisions and I do still think that the decision is tougher than you seem to think,” Duncan stated via The Elle Duncan Show.

The incident Duncan is referring to happened during the NCAA 2022-23 Championship Finale when Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes were contending for a title against Reese’s LSU. The First Lady Jill Biden was present during the matchup at the American Airlines Center in April. Seeing Iowa’s efforts in a losing cause and the public support both the teams received, Biden suggested on breaking the national tradition of the Championship winner visiting the white house. Instead, she recommended that the Hawkeyes who had lost the game should also pay a visit to the white house apart from the LSU. This didn’t go down well with Reese.

Reese took to the social media networking platform X and declared that the double invitation was “a joke.” Plus, her fans too came forward in support of the LSU star. Just hours after the whole fiasco escalated, Biden’s press secretary, Vanessa Valdivia, came forward to opine that Biden was admiring “how far women have advanced in sports since the passing of Title IX” and her remarks were made to applaud the “historic game, and all women athletes,” as per The Guardian.

However, when it came to hosting the athletes, she looked forward “to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.” And now that Duncan too has expressed that she wouldn’t want the award to be shared, then who, according to her, is the deserving winner?

Elle Duncan shares her take on who should take home the ROTY award

It was a thing of the past when the Indiana Fever bagged the WNBA Championship title in 2012. In the last two seasons, the Fever had to sit through significant struggle, which led them to secure the number one pick in the WNBA drafts – Aliyah Boston in 2023 and Caitlin Clark in 2024. After Clark’s emergence in the W, the Fever are estimated to make it to the playoffs this year. Plus, Clark has become the first WNBA rookie to record a triple-double during a game against the New York Liberty.

To top that, Clark’s name for the ROTY award gathered pace when she eclipsed Ticha Penicheiro’s record of all-time most assists by a WNBA rookie during a game against the Seattle Storm on Sunday. Taking cognizance of her achievements, Duncan feels that Caitlin Clark had a difficult task than her competitors which was “to translate as a guard right away in the league.” Plus, she is also “so integral to what the Fever do and the idea that at the moment she is leading her team to the postseason.” And hence, she deserved to be named the ROTY winner.

While Clark’s fans might be celebrating Duncan, the idea might not sit well with Reese’s fans. Therefore, in the remaining games, it will be really interesting to see what the two exceptional players do for their team and who takes home the coveted title.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.