Chennedy Carter who?
Angel Reese who?
Jemele Hill who?
If you don’t know those names, don’t worry: You’re not supposed to. There’s one name that matters in the WNBA during the 2024 season, as much as cultural warriors might want to convince you otherwise. That’s Caitlin Clark, formerly of the University of Iowa and now with the pro league’s Indiana Fever.
The Fever might not be doing so hot (pun unintended) this year; considering that they’ve scored the No. 1 draft pick the last two years, they’re legitimately terrible, compiling a 3-9 record so far with both top pick Clark and last year’s No. 1 pick, Aliyah Boston.
However, they were firing on all cylinders on Friday — especially Clark, who racked up 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in an 85-83 victory over the 0-11 Washington Mystics.
The dominating performance comes after a week of controversy in the WNBA, most of which revolved around the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE FROM CAITLIN CLARK 🔥
30 PTS
7-13 3PM
8 REB
6 AST
4 STLLed the Fever to the W ‼️ pic.twitter.com/nOJ5QFeW3T
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 8, 2024
Do you like Caitlin Clark?
As Bleacher Report noted, this made Clark the fastest player in WNBA history to rack up 200 points and 50 assists.
History for Caitlin Clark 👏
(h/t @StatMamba) pic.twitter.com/k0bl6VDYSQ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 8, 2024
And let it not be said that the former Hawkeye didn’t do it in style:
WHAT A PERFORMANCE FROM CAITLIN CLARK 🔥
30 PTS
7-13 3PM
8 REB
6 AST
4 STLLed the Fever to the W ‼️ pic.twitter.com/nOJ5QFeW3T
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 8, 2024
Just in case you needed a reminder of why we’re paying attention to the WNBA right now.
It’s hard, I know. Angel Reese — Clark’s main college rival and the No. 7 pick in this year’s WNBA Draft for the Chicago Sky — has tried to position herself as a key cog in the collective vanguard of the league.
After a highly publicized kerfuffle in Saturday’s Sky-Fever game in which Sky guard Chennedy Carter committed a hard off-ball foul against Clark — all while appearing to mouth the word b****, although I’ll concede I’m not a lip reader — Reese seemed to celebrate on the sideline.
VIDEO: Watch as Angel Reese celebrate on the sideline, while teammate Chennedy Carter delivers a cheap shot to star player Caitlin Clark. #caitlinclark #angelreese #WNBA pic.twitter.com/GpWs4ZEXwu
— Prince Carlton 🇺🇸 (@_PrinceCarlton_) June 1, 2024
Reese would later defend herself, because of course she would.
“Coming into a league that is super competitive with amazing talent here, I wasn’t coming in here expecting it to be easy because of the name I have,” Reese said, adding that the rough play in the WNBA was helping the league — and she was a part of it.
“I think so many people are watching women’s basketball right now,” Reese said.
“It all started from the National Championship Game [in 2023], and I’ve been dealing with this for two years now. And understanding, yeah, negative things have probably been said about me, but honestly, I’ll take that because look where women’s basketball is.
“People are talking about women’s basketball, but you never would think that people would be talking about women’s basketball. People are pulling up to games, we got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas, just because of one single game,” Reese said, referencing her battles with Clark during their time in college.
“And just looking at that, 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. And I know I’ll go down in history,” she added. “I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘the reason why we watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person, it’s because of me, too,’ and I want y’all to realize that.”
Alas, college is college, and this is the pros. Nasty fouls and prime players cheering those fouls on aren’t good looks. The whole situation looks doubly bad when you look at how Reese performed against the same hapless Mystic team. Reese scored 16 points and notched 11 rebounds and 3 assists, which doesn’t look bad on the surface — until you realize she shot a putrid 29 percent from the field. Clark managed to score 30 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists, while almost doubling Reese’s efficiency by shooting 53 percent from the field.
Last week’s news was the kerfuffle between Clark, Carter and Reese. This week, it’s all Clark. But, please, Angel — do tell us how you’ll go down in history. At the moment, at the very least, it’s good for a laugh.
