Tempers are riding high in the WNBA at the moment. The Commisioner’s Cup opener between Indiana and Chicago has grabbed a lot of traction recently. However, the attention is not entirely for the right reasons. A clear division has been witnessed among the fans of the sport ever since the altercation between Caitlin Clark and Chennedy Carter transpired during the game. Now, when one of Clark’s college adversaries Angel Reese chose to get in the middle of it, it seems her narrative isn’t sitting well with the fans.

The 22-year-old former LSU star interacted with the media recently. Opening up about her views on the Clark-Carter episode, Reese said, “I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, yeah, the reason why we watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person, it’s because of me too and I want you to realize that. It’s not just because of one person, a lot of us have done so much for this game and there are so many other players in this league that have deserved this for a really really long time.” 

Following this, she has been at the receiving end of a lot of backlash on social media. Seemingly, people have laid out strong criticisms against the Sky forward and also labeled her selfish. Consequently, Phoenix Mercury’s No. 0 Natasha Cloud extended her support for the 2023 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. In an X post captioned, “They love to villainize a strong black woman,” she posted a section of Reese’s interview. 

Soon after, fans have been flooding her post with their perspective of Reese’s stance in this matter.

Fans disagree with Cloud and continue to target Angel Reese

Pointing out Reese’s quotes from the interview that she likes to “take the bad guy role,” one fan opined that no one is villainizing her as she embraces all this negativity towards her. The fan wrote, “She villainized herself. She wants to be the bad one.” 

Meanwhile, one X user started to draw comparisons of the influence that Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark had in the WNBA. The individual seems to be a supporter of Caitlin Clark and pointed out that it was because of her all the athletes have received charter facilities in the WNBA for the first time in 3 decades of its existence. The fan also credited Clark for the multiple sold-out stadiums and record-breaking viewership, one recorded at 2.45 million in her presence.

Angel Reese gave herself some credit for the overall popularity of women’s basketball at the start of the interview. Pointing that out, one of the WNBA observers sarcastically targeted Reese and stated that she lacked humbleness. The X user expressed, “Humbleness…now that’s an art most never perfect!” 

There was also a suggestion to compare the attendance numbers that both these athletes have pulled as rookies for everyone to get a clear picture regarding who had a bigger influence. The fan posted, “Can we check the attendance of WNBA games so far this season? Would love to compare what Angel Reese’s presence has done for attendance compared to CC.” 

Another Caitlin Clark fan was bold enough to say that the 6-foot-guard has drawn in more crowds than any female athlete in the last 30 years. The comment stated, “CC did more for attendance in months vs 30 years of prior players. But that doesn’t fit your narrative.”

Clearly, the internet is on two opposite ends for the two phenomenal athletes. The opinions vary as the passion for their respective superstars is overpowering everything. Nonetheless, one thing that can’t be denied is that both these players have had their fair share of contributions towards women’s basketball.