Angel Reese is asking for her recognition after the media kept portraying Clark as the savior of the WNBA.
And Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese wants supporters of women’s basketball to know that she and her teammates have contributed to the WBNA’s rising prominence.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, June 3, the WNBA player discussed the Chicago Sky’s defeat to the Indiana Fever on Saturday, June 1, and Caitlin Clark’s impact on the league.
“I think so many people are watching women’s basketball right now. It all started with the national championship game. I’ve been dealing with this for two years now,” Reese began during the interview.
The rookie for the Chicago Sky did not hold back from accepting that she has had negative feedback from supporters, some of which goes back to her time as an LSU student.
A portion of that can be attributed to the fact that basketball fans are watching Reese, whether they like her or not.
“And understand that, yeah, negative things have probably been said about me. But honestly, I’ll take that because look where women’s basketball is,” she continued.
The 22-year-old Chicago Sky player declared that if it means women’s basketball will keep getting better, she will keep playing the “bad guy” role.
“People are talking about women’s basketball, but you never would think that we’d be talking about women’s basketball,” she continued. “People are pulling up to games; we have celebrities coming to games and sold-out arenas. Just because of one single game and just looking at that, like, I’ll take that role. I’ll take the ‘bad guy’ role, and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates.”
Caitlin and Angel, both 22, are fierce rivals who have distinguished themselves during and after college.
When Reese’s LSU defeated Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2023 championship game to win their first national title, their rivalry garnered widespread attention.
During the game, which attracted a then-record-breaking 12.6 million viewers, Reese gestured to Clark with a hand wave like John Cena’s “You can’t see me.”
“And if I wanna be that, I know I’ll go down in history. I’ll look back in years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we watch women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too.’ And I want y’all to realize that,” Reese ended the interview.
