Caitlin Clark was running away with the WNBA rookie of the year award until Angel Reese’s recent WNBA record 15-straight double-doubles, which just ended with a loss to the NY Liberty on Saturday.
Now Reese is closing the gap and some prominent members of the women’s basketball community feel she has surpassed Clark in the race.
JuJu Watkins and Dawn Are Team Angel Reese
USC basketball star JuJu Watkins and legendary coach Dawn Staley both believe that Reese is the front-runner for the award right now.
In fact, Staley said that it’s not even debatable.
“So you gonna try to put me in a controversy, right,” Staley jokingly replied when asked about the two by TMZ recently.
“They both are having great years,” she continued.” Don’t get me wrong. If I had to pick a rookie of the year at this time, it’s Angel. Not a doubt.”
“What she’s been able to do with the double-doubles. But listen, the season is halfway through and Caitlin is coming. … I’ll say this, whatever team makes the playoffs, that’s our Rookie of the Year,” Staley added.
Clark’s Indiana Fever and Reese’s Chicago Sky currently occupy the final two playoff spots in the WNBA, so they may both make the playoffs, which makes that accomplishment less of a factor in deciding the award.
Both players have lived up to the billing, setting rookie records in various categories and helping to increase the league’s popularity and ratings.
Clark’s calling card has been her all-around game and high point totals in scoring, rebounds and assists the league leader in assists.
But Staley’s choice reflects the latest latest ESPN rankings, which had Reese only slightly ahead of Clark.
“For the most part, Reese has been a stat-stuffing dynamo in her debut campaign. She is a close second (behind Clark) in points per 100 possessions among rookies, leads by a mile in rebound rate and has been the best active defensive rookie following Brink’s injury,” ESPN’s Neil Paine writes.
Paine continued: “Aside from teammate Lindsay Allen, no member of the Sky has been associated with more of an uptick in the team’s performance while on the court than Reese, who has overseen a 16.6-point improvement in Chicago’s net rating when she’s in the game.”
USC women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins also believes Chicago Sky phenom Angel Reese deserves to win the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year award.
“As of right now, I got Angel,” Watkins said in an interview with GQ Sports. “She’s been killing it.”
Shooting-wise, both Reese and Clark have had their rookie struggles, but the other aspects of their games have allowed both to make an immediate impact.
With a game-high 16 rebounds on Saturday, Reese upped her season total to 276 boards, a WNBA record for any player through their first 23 games.
The Clark Committee surely doesn’t like the new narrative, but it’s necessary for this rivalry to continue to grow and drive the WNBA’s new marketing power.
The supports for both are fractured along many different racial and cultural lines.
It is interesting how Reese has gained ground on Clark as far as the national narrative goes.
For ESPN to have Reese with a slight edge over Clark says a lot about the way WNBA narratives change game to game.
