In their 2025 WNBA season opening, highly anticipated contest against each other, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese squared off in a game heavily promoted by ESPN. Clark’s Indiana Fever hosted Reese’s Chicago Sky on May 18 as the league looked to further capitalize on the new swell of visibility that these two young stars have helped usher in. It was the continuation of a two-year rivalry that has crossed over into mainstream pop and political culture discourse, starting with Reese’s LSU 2023 national championship game win over Clark’s Iowa. The Hawkeyes got a bit of revenge in last spring’s college tournament, followed by Clark’s Fever winning three of the four games against Reese’s Chicago squad in their 2024 WNBA rookie season.
Maybe this would be a time where the biggest storylines from their latest contest would just focus on their game. But with Indiana up 56-42 in the second quarter, Clark prevented Reese from scoring an easy layup by grabbing her by the stomach and lightly shoving her to the floor. Reese, a passionate, prideful forward, immediately got up to yell at her shorter rival. Indiana’s center Aliyah Boston got in between the two to prevent a direct altercation and Clark was given a flagrant foul penalty. That competitive tension is something very normal in not just women’s basketball, but in men’s basketball and all sports in general. It’s part of the WNBA’s appeal and growing popularity. Yet instead of quickly moving on from that entertaining exchange, a new cesspool of anti-Black bile was spewed at Reese online following the Sky’s blowout 93-58 defeat to the Fever. It was alleged that Reese faced racist taunts during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
