Angel Reese Explained There’s ‘No Hate’ Between She And Caitlin Clark, But Some Fans Have Crossed A Line

The dominant storyline in the WNBA this season has been the Rookie of the Year race between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, and the record-setting production both have been putting up. Clark became the first rookie to put up a triple-double (and has done so twice), while Reese has set new WNBA records for rebounds in a season and consecutive double-doubles in her inaugural campaign.

Clark’s play since the Olympic break and Indiana’s run to clinch a playoff berth while the Sky have struggled to win games has likely put the ROY race to bed, but that hasn’t stopped the rookie conversation from dominating headlines. What’s been fascinating is how the arguments have raged on and the vitriol that fans have approached it, despite the two young stars not showing much of any off-court animosity towards the other.

On Thursday, Reese debuted her podcast, “The Angel Reese Show”, and naturally got the Caitlin Clark conversation out of the way early. The Sky star was quick to point out that the two have been playing each other since high school, and while there’s an on-court rivalry between them, there’s “no hate” and plenty of respect for the other’s game. The issue has come with the fans, who Reese doesn’t expect to cheer for her, but notes how there are numerous examples of fans crossing the line with racist comments, stalking, creating explicit AI photos, and death threats.

“Caitlin is an amazing player and I’ve always thought she was an amazing player. We’ve been playing each other since high school,” Reese said. “So I think it’s really just the fans. Her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, they ride for her. And I respect that, respectfully, but sometimes its very disrespectful. I think there’s a lot of racism when it comes to it, and I don’t think she stands on any of it. But when it comes to death threats, I’m talking about people coming down to my address, follow me home, like it’s come down tot hat. Multiple occasions people have made AI images of me naked. They have sent it to my family members, like uncles are sending it to me like, are you naked on Instagram? It sucks to see that and it’s really hard that I have to go through that and now seeing other players even having to go through that. But at the end of the day, it’s a game that we do both love, but there is no hate.”

Those are things that no one should have to go through, much less just for playing the game of basketball. Both Reese and Clark seem to enjoy the on-court rivalry and the chance to go back-and-forth with another highly competitive and talented player, but the extracurriculars that surround it need to get reined in. From the way some in the media discuss them to fans taking it way too far both on social media and real life, the conversation about these two young women has gotten out of control.