Chicago Sky star Angel Reese recently claimed her stake in the boom in the popularity of the WNBA, saying that Caitlin Clark is not the lone factor in the boost in attention for the sport. But not everyone is buying this claim, including Dan Patrick who spoke on the matter on Tuesday.
Reese’s claim was largely about the fact that the 2023 National Championship game between her LSU Tigers and Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes was the first big step in growing the state of women’s basketball.
“It all started with the national championship game,” Reese said, referring to the 2023 championship title game. “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 that you would never think would be talking about women’s basketball. People are pulling up to games, we’ve got celebrities coming to games, sold-out arenas, just because of one single game.
“Just looking at that, I’ll take that role, I’ll take the bad-guy role and I’ll continue to take that on … I know I’ll go down in history, I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re 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.”
"I'll look back in 20 years and be like, the reason why we're watching women's basketball is not just because of one person. It's because of me, too. I want ya'll to realize that." – Angel Reese
(via @GNSportsTV) pic.twitter.com/dfn2LiuMrY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 4, 2024
There is no doubt that Reese indeed played a part in all of the media coverage of that National Championship game. But it was largely for flashing the “you can’t see me” celebration in Clark’s direction after LSU’s victory in that game.
Outside of Reese’s interactions with Clark, Dan Patrick has some doubts as to how much of a draw Reese truly is, voicing his thoughts on her recent comments on his show on Tuesday.
“If she would have left it with what she said before those last couple of words, I would have been fine with it,” said Patrick. “She’s embraced (being) the villain. She understands and has done quite well on social media. She’s cashed in, literally. But her notoriety is based off of Caitlin Clark. She wins the National Title and the first thing she does is mock Caitlin Clark. And then, she doesn’t even celebrate with her teammates. She’s made it personal with Caitlin Clark. Then she has played off of that.
“Even Caitlin Clark getting knocked down in that game on Saturday. Who’s standing up applauding but Angel Reese. She’s sort of embraced that Draymond Green role. But the eyeballs on the WNBA really have to do with Caitlin Clark. There is nothing wrong with saying you watch a sport because of one singular person. People watch golf because of Tiger (Woods). They are still trying to capitalize on it. The WNBA has been around a couple of decades. People didn’t know the game, but they are noticing it now. That’s because of Caitlin Clark, not Angel Reese.”
Patrick went on to say that there is nothing about Reese’s game that is “really interesting” that will bring in viewers.
It’s a fair point to make. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone arguing that Reese is on the level of Clark when it comes to popularity.
However, Reese has found a way to stay in the headlines throughout her rookie season. So maybe her role as a “Draymond Green-esque” character in the WNBA isn’t all that bad of a thing for her to be embracing.
