Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are two of the fiercest rivalries in the WNBA. The duo have grown from the point they first met in their high schools. But the public display of it all came in the 2023 Championship Game. When the Lady Tigers almost confirmed their victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes, Reese gestured John Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me Move’ move while pointing to her ring finger and circling the No. 22. Though Reese’s foreshadowing came true as her team won the title, the internet went crazy over the intense competition between the two. However, the social media baron Dave Portnoy claims that Reese wouldn’t have been popular if not for his tweet and also enunciates that the Maryland-born thrust herself into the rivalry.

Portnoy was present in a chat with ‘All-IN Podcast’ when he was asked if the Reese-Clark rivalry is similar to Magic-Bird’s contention. Portnoy gave his side of the story about Reese and how she got famous, which had a lot of fans reliving the NCAA Finales.

“People would not know who she was if it wasn’t for her going at Caitlin Clark and becoming her rival by really trash-talking her and that anybody in the media who says it’s anything other than Angel Reese thrusting herself into this conversation, which by the way business-wise brilliant for her. Because she’s got shoe deals, she a shack, she got all this stuff but people would not know who she was if… Caitlin Clark by every metric is a unicorn… she put herself in the same conversation with it and she’s had a great rookie season…,” Portnoy stated.

Notably, after the Championship Finale in April 2023, Reese got the chance to wear a swimsuit for a magazine cover. With it, she soon became the heartthrob of the entire nation. Her moniker ‘Bayou Barbie’ became pretty famous among her fans. Next, she inked a deal with the sporting giant Reebok in October 2023 with which she recently released Reebok’s first performance sneakers and a collaboration collection in a decade in August this year. Overall, it has been nothing short of a dream ride for Reese, who is now regarded as one of the best ballers of a generation.

“but I didn’t know I just saw Caitlin play in college and she was doing things I just never seen a woman do in basketball, pulling up from the logo like who the hell is this? And I just started watching her. And I didn’t even during the game with the LSU when and she did all the theatrics. I didn’t notice Angel during the game like I really… I bet on Iowa I was mad and then I don’t know if I get credit or.. or… just approve however you want to put it I tweeted and this went super viral… I was so mad when they lost this game I tweeted ‘Angel Reese is a classless piece of s**t’… From that moment really took off between these two,” Portnoy added.

Meanwhile, Clark was already famous before the entire drama, as per Portnoy. She, for her logo threes, was regarded as an exceptional baller. Many also compared her to the NBA star Stephen Curry at times. Hence, when Reese did the ‘You Can’t See Me’ move, it brought her a lot of traction, as per Portnoy, who believes his tweet at that time changed things for Reese.

A tweet changed things for Angel Reese, as per Dave Portnoy

Following LSU’s win in the NCAA Championship, there was a lot of debate regarding Reese’s action, which didn’t go down well with a lot of Clark’s fans. While her haters stated that Reese shouldn’t have challenged the ‘NCAA Queen’, her supporters pointed out that the point guard had made the same move in the Elite Eight in March against Lousiville. In such a tense atmosphere, Portnoy took sides with Clark, calling out Reese. This stirred up a controversy as he received a lot of backlash for it, especially so because he didn’t seem to even blink when Clark had done the same antic during the Elite Eight clash.

However, Haiey Van Lith, who everyone thought was Clark’s target during the Louisville matchup, revealed that the Indiana Fever rookie did it to her personal trainer and not herself. The Des Moines native has also spoken up on the same, backing Van Lith’s reasons.

Overall, the incident caught the eyes of NBA greats such as Shaquille O’Neal and Magic Johnson. While Johnson defended Reese by pointing out her double-double tally, Shaq called up the haters to “leave Angel Reese alone.” And from there on, with her brilliant performances backed by the right PR, Reese hasn’t let her fame go down.

Though Reese hasn’t reacted much right now, it will be interesting to see how her fans will react to Portnoy’s claims. Maybe it’s just the silence before the storm.