Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese (Photos via Getty Images)
One of the top storylines thus far in the 2024 WNBA season is the rapidly growing rivalry between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky.
June 1 marked the first meeting between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese on the WNBA court. The two had a pair of notable showdowns in the NCAA, including the 2023 women’s national championship game where Reese and the LSU Tigers emerged victorious.
In that June 1 contest, Chennedy Carter of the Sky delivered an unnecessary shoulder check on Clark after making a basket. Reese celebrated the hit on the sidelines, adding extra fuel to her rivalry with Clark.
Last week, Reese made further headlines when she stated that people aren’t only watching women’s basketball because of one person (clearly a reference to Clark), but because of her as well.
Angel Reese believes the physical play that Caitlin Clark has experienced isn’t new to the WNBA
Just more 👀
“The reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of 1 person. It’s because of me, too. I want y’all to realize that”
More: https://t.co/3fNUxipTTD pic.twitter.com/1YbGG4mWuL
— GNSportsTV (@GNSportsTV) June 3, 2024
Every WNBA game without Clark that weekend came nowhere close to such numbers, with only one of them drawing 10,000-plus fans;
Attendance at non-Caitlin Clark WNBA games this past weekend:
7,638
4,015
9,878
7,035
3,265
10,207
7,024Attendance at Caitlin Clark WNBA games this past weekend:
17,274
17,401 https://t.co/JyxdFe8FwQ— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 3, 2024
Not only that, but the showdown between Clark’s Fever and the Washington Mystics on Friday drew over 20,333 fans, per Joe Pompliano. The Clark effect is very much real, folks. The attendance figures and television ratings don’t lie.
Caitlin Clark & Angel Reese Meet Again On Sunday
The good news for fans of the Fever-Sky rivalry is that the next meeting is now just six days away. Indiana will play host to Chicago again on Sunday at noon EST on CBS, the second of their four-game season series.
Don’t be surprised if that game smashed WNBA viewership records. Clark and Reese are two of the league’s biggest draws, and the whole Carter-Clark shoulder check fiasco is only going to make this showdown more compelling.
REPORT: Surprising New Candidate Has Suddenly Emerged Out Of Nowhere For The Los Angeles Lakers Head Coaching Job
Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
More bad news for JJ Redick, as after Dan Hurley, another college basketball phenom, Jay Wright, entered the chat to vie for the vacant Los Angeles Lakers HC job. Since the firing of Darvin Ham following the Lakers’ first-round exit, Redick led the race to land the job, but within a space of 72 hours, he is now drifting far from it.
Jay Wright, the 2-time NCAA championship-winning coach, has emerged as a “stealth candidate” for the coveted job. As per Marc Stein, the former Villanova HC has an outside chance to land the job if the Lakers decide to move away from Hurley due to his commitment to UConn. “I had been warned early on by one well-placed insider, for what it’s worth, to stay ready in case former Villanova coach Jay Wright emerged as a stealth candidate,” the NBA insider said.
After finishing his 21-year stint with Villanova, Wright left the coaching role in 2022. Since then, he has been linked with several high-profile jobs in the NBA, but this is the most recent about him. If Dan Hurley remains with the Huskies after delivering back-to-back NCAA championships, Wright could be a viable option for the Lakers.
With Hurley setting a deadline for his Lakers decision, it’s a guessing game around the vacant seat.
Who Might Make the Cut as HC for Los Angeles Lakers?
While JJ Redick has the most underwhelming CV in the race, he was the frontrunner and some even speculated that he would’ve already been the Lakers coach if he wasn’t on commentary duty for the NBA Finals.
