The Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark rivalry keeps adding pages to its story. With their induction into the league, the W saw massive growth. This year, 22 WNBA regular season games crossed 1 million viewers. When W commissioner Cathy Engelbert was asked about the cutthroat rivalry, at least between the fans of Clark and Reese, she compared them to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. However, a certain analyst feels that while the point guard may be the Bird of this generation, Reese isn’t the Johnson.

On Wednesday’s episode of the Ringer NBA, Seerat Sohi shared her outlook on the intensely blooming rivalry between Reese and Clark, and who could be the Johnson to Clark’s Bird.

“You want to hear the other reason that I don’t think it’s a Bird-Magic era? I think you’re going to hate this one as well given your LSU ties. Caitlin doesn’t have a Bird or a Magic. I think she’s going to spend her entire career probably up until the point that JuJu ends up in the W. But there is still going to be such an age gap with that, with so many people trying to pretend that she has a genuine foil, and that conversation is always going to be at like in disservice to that player,” Sohi stated.

While Clark was declared the Rookie of the Year, there is no denying that there were no rookies who could match her record-breaking numbers. Even in the college basketball circuit, while the generational player became the all-time leading leading scorer in the NCAA, Reese or for that matter, any other star, wasn’t even close to her numbers.

Therefore, Sohi suggests that maybe when JuJu Watkins comes into the league, that might give Clark a worthy opponent which can be derived from the fact that the California-born was a contender to Clark’s NPOY award last year. Moreover, the reiging Freshman of the Year from the USC Trojans also folowed the Fever No. 22 closely with 27.1 points per game compared to the latter’s 31.6 ppg.

However, Sohi feels that comparing any player to Clark and forming a rivalry with her will always be a ‘disservice’ to that player, especially as is the case with Reese.

“It is such a disservice to Angel Reese that every conversation around her is in comparison to Caitlin Clark. Because now you have this elite rebounder, this elite defensive player – Chicago were incredible defensively every time she was on the court – who has a ton of potential in her own right. And if she wasn’t going up this generational rookie that is changing everything, [she] would have been Rookie of the Year. and would have been part of the big conversation that we’re having. But because everything is through the lens of Caitlin, we focus a lot more on the flaws,” Sohi added.

Notably, when Reese came into the W, at one point, she had more rebounds than the “best player in the world (right now)” A’ja Wilson, which the latter eclipsed only when the Chi-Town Barbie’s season was cut short due to the ankle injury. Previously she had also surpassed Candace Parker’s record of most consecutive double-doubles (15).

Therefore, as per Sohi, Reese is a brilliant athlete who should be considered for her skills, instead of being criticized for not making up for Clark’s performance. Indeed, despite the missed games in the final weeks of the season, the Chicago No. 5 wrapped up her career with 13.2 ppg and 13.1 rpg. Due to her dominant presence in the paint, the Sky ended up fourth-best second-chance points per game (11.2) and third-best record for points in the paint per game (40.3).

The Maryland-born is often criticized for not being a good shooter with her meager 39% shooting from the field. But the spotlight is brightened by the fact that the former ‘NCAA Queen’ is popular for her signature logo threes that intrigue many. Even the Sky’s games with the Fever drew large crowds and viewers since fans wanted to watch the two clash. But with Sohi’s words, it looked as if she was undermining Reese despite mentioning how she is always compared to the first overall pick.

Days after the Bayou Barbie’s entry into the league, the Chicago Sky full and half-season ticket packages nearly sold out. And the Sky, which at one point lacked an influencing player, had their jersey sold out. All this points to how Reese has helped her team not only to decimate opponents on the court but also to increase revenue. And not only Reese, according to Sohi, even Paige Bueckers’ WNBA run is going to be full of comparisons.

Paige Bueckers to be affected by Caitlin Clark-Fever

“But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch,” Engelbert stated of Reese and Clark while comparing them to Bird and Johnson. And as is the case, the rivalries do help gain viewers and fans. But according to Sohi, while always keeping the conversations alive, they might end up overlooking the unique aspects of any player. Much like how, according to her, Bueckers will have to go through.

“I think Paige is gonna come into the league and it’s gonna happen to her. Paige is gonna come into the league and she’s going to be incredible. I think she’s going to be like MJ too… Like she’s going to be Clyde to Caitlin’s MJ where you know Drexler has incredible career wins, titles, is a winner. But is always going to be in that conversation up against MJ and that’s going to do a disservice to Paige’s legacy and we’re going to go on and on like this because we have this thing in sports where we think we need foils,” mentioned Sohi about the projected first overall pick for the 2025 WNBA draft.

“And we don’t always. I don’t think we actually at all need foils. You know the great players didn’t need a foil. Tiger didn’t need a foil. Tiger never had a foil. MJ never really had foil,” Sohi concluded.

Comparing Clark and Bueckers to Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler, Sohi opined that ‘Paige Buckets’ is always going to be in the shadow of the Iowa-alum. Despite, the Huskies star winning NPOY during her freshman year in 2021, she never evolved to become the name she was expected to, mostly due to injuries. Meanwhile, Clark, at the same time, shot to national fame.

Hopefully, the next WNBA season will be more about the sport and less about the comparisons to allow other players to evolve, and instead of comparing them to Clark, give each one the time to build a legacy of their own. Till then, Bueckers and Reese can continue to push the idea of having their own brand value and name with their unique gameplay.