“You crazy as f—. What the f— is wrong with you?” Those were Angel Reese’s words to Caitlin Clark–right after the moment that gave fans the biggest talking point of the W season so far. It all began when Clark committed a flagrant foul to stop Reese from scoring an easy bucket. Just a basketball play. But it set off a storm. One that quickly turned into one of the most controversial storylines of the season. Reese faced a storm of hate– both on the court and online. The WNBA had to step in. But unfortunately for the Bayou Barbie, more bad news was just around the corner.

The Chicago Sky opened their season with a tough one–an embarrassing 93-58 loss to the Fever. To make it worse? The reigning Rookie of the Year went off. Clark dropped 20 points, 10 boards, 10 assists, and added a career-high four blocks. Her third career triple-double.

Reese, not to be outdone, fought hard with 12 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, showcasing the prowess that led her to top the WNBA with 13.1 rebounds per game in 2024. Their rivalry, which gained prominence during the 2023 NCAA Championship when Reese’s LSU defeated Clark’s Iowa, and intensified in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, continues to drive record viewership. Notably, their June 16, 2024, matchup drew 2.25 million viewers, marking one of the highest-rated WNBA regular-season games in over two decades. But that wasn’t all.

Hall of Famer Van Chancellor–a four-time WNBA champion with the Houston Comets and one of the greatest coaches the game has ever seen–unintentionally made things even tougher for Reese. In an interview with Will Kunkel of FOX, he was asked the big question: Who’s the better player–Clark or Reese? And well, you can probably guess who he picked.

He said, “Well, if I say Caitlin Clark, that’s going to make Angela Reese–who I know really well–made! Truth is, the truth is that I’d have to know them as human beings. If I was going to pick somebody, I’d want to pick someone I could hang around with off the court. Someone I could enjoy being around.”

The fact that Chancellor referred to Reese as “Angela” instead of “Angel” definitely got fans talking. Chancellor, who coached at LSU and knows Reese from her college days, likely didn’t mean any harm, but the slip-up fueled social media chatter about Reese being overlooked in the Clark-Reese narrative. And honestly, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Reese was already dealing with enough–especially with everything going on around with the Indiana superstar. Sure, there’s no denying Caitlin Clark is the better player right now. Her 20-10-10 performance against Reese and co made that clear. But Chancellor didn’t hold back on the praise for Angel either.

In the same interview, he said, “She just plays hard. Brings it every night. Thinks every rebound ought to be hers—and honestly, I think they are. Yeah, yeah–she’s as good of a rebounder as there is in the league right now.” Big praise from an all-time great. And honestly? She deserves every bit of it. Last season, she was a force to be reckoned with on defense–44 steals, 16 blocks, and a solid defensive rating of 99.0. And to top it off? She led the entire league in rebounds per game with a dominant 13.1.

ESPN’s Monica McNutt had some really interesting thoughts on the incident between the two superstars. It’s definitely worth hearing what she had to say. Let’s take a look!

ESPN’s Monica McNutt delivers powerful take on Clark and Angel Reese

On Monday morning’s episode of ESPN’s “Get Up,” Monica McNutt spoke on the situation that’s been blowing up on social media. Her commentary was strong, thoughtful, and definitely worth paying attention to.

“Whether you like it or not, anything that happens with the two of them, one is automatically seen as a victim, and one is automatically seen as someone who needs to be saved,” McNutt said.  She pointed out how racial biases shape perceptions—something echoed in a March 2025 study by Rice University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, which found that Reese faced harsher criticism for her 2023 NCAA gesture toward Clark than Clark did for similar actions.

She went on to recognize their fierce competitive spirit. “In reality, both are incredible competitors. They both said this was just a basketball play.”

And that’s true–both Clark and Reese came out and said it was just a basketball play, showing the huge respect they have for each other. June 7th brings another showdown between these two teams and fierce rivals– offering a chance to add another chapter to their story. It will also be the perfect moment for Reese to silence her critics. Can she do it? Only time will tell!