The Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese has been in the WNBA spotlight since she blocked a layup attempt by Diana Taurasi last August. Thie event in a comeback game for the Sky after 1 month 2024 Olympics break, was a setback for the 3x WNBA champion. A repetition, now off-court, could be traced as Diana Taurasi catches stray on the 2024 WNBA All-Star’s account, even though it came from a third party. 

It is Funny Marco the social media prankster and comedian who appeared on Reese–hosted podcast Unapologetically Angel. Here Marco shared his love for Reese’s sport saying: “I really like the WNBA over the NBA… At the WNBA, I watched through the whole thing.” She took this with disbelief that she shot questions to test his knowledge, and his one slip caught the 11x WNBA All-Star on social media radar. 

“How many teams on the WNBA?” asked the power forward. Marco who wasn’t sure could however break down the Sky team. He, who began with Chennedy Carter’s prowess and impacts this season, came down to a traded player: “You all traded off uh, is it Diana?” to which the 22-year-old Sky star was quick with: “No Marina Mabrey.” The mistake while ignored by Reese struck differently with media. 

“Funny Marco said to Angel Reese “Carter is your shooter” then said “Who’d y’all trade? Diana?” Mistaking Marina Mabrey for Diana Taurasi is crazy😂” wrote the Chennedy Report on a tweet sharing podcast video. This makes sense with a little peek into the players’ differences. 

The ‘White Mamba‘ is a veteran 6ft Shooting Guard drafted to the WNBA in 2004 by the Phoenix Mercury. She, who played 565 games since has a career average of 18.8 points and 4.2 assists playing 30.4 minutes on average. On the other hand, Marina Mabrey is a comparatively recent recruit from the 2019 WNBA draft, who played 194 games with 12.2 points and 3.1 assists averaging her career. Regardless of her legacy, the Mercury Star is infamous for hard floor behaviors with Mabrey being its recent target, which might have triggered the “crazy” reference to the video. 

The flip side of the 42-year-old Champion involves running words on opponents and referees, causing ‘technical fouls’. With 7 tech fouls per season causing 1 game suspension, the legend accrued 2 game suspensions in 2013 for 9 such fouls, 1 each in 2016 and 2018, and nearly escaped 1 with the WNBA rescinding her 7th foul this year. This might pick your attention to the skirmishes she had with 5’11” Mabrey. 

A long-tested WNBA feud

This brings back memories of a 2020 Phoenix Mercury-Dallas Wings game played at Mercury’s home. Mabrey, the then-Dallas star, made a foul while trying to grab the ball from the 5x WNBA scoring champion, which elicited harsh responses from the legend. While she herself got a ‘tech foul,’ her responses post-game exposed another rivalry.

“Yeah, That goes back to Notre Dame versus Connecticut. I think you’re too young for that though,” said the former UConn player then as she was asked about her comments. It might feel childish for the Mercury star to hold a grudge against a junior who happens to play against her alma mater. However, she turned that response into a joke eliminating any hard feelings on Mabrey, only to prove it wrong. 

You may recollect the Mercury-Sky game from July 30, 2023. If you do, Taurasi slapping the Sky’s star on the face while defending, without any provocation, must be the first memory that pops up. So there are no reasons to nullify the chances of bad blood. 

With the latest podcast of Angel Reese reminding fans of Diana Taurasi’s court behaviors, especially the feud with Mabrey, we must wait to see if the legend considers toning down a bit.