While friendly rivalries have existed in the W, things never got as heated as they have with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. The two have a genuine rivalry, the Magic-Bird of women’s basketball, if you will. There’s geographical proximity, histories dotted with pivotal data points, and bad blood that dates to college. Despite the volcanic start to 2025, the rest of the season was pretty silent due to injuries to both. However, that did not stop the online fan fury from continuing debate and quarreling regarding their favorite athlete. Something that is taking a dangerous turn, according to ESPN reporter Sarah Spain.

“One of the worst things about women’s sports right now, and particularly the W, is because there’s a lot of agendas being pushed by criticizing someone like Angel Reese or by fighting on behalf of Caitlin Clark. There are a lot of misattributed quotes or fully made-up quotes, and because there’s nowhere to go to say ‘Oh, she never said that’. It just travels.” Spain said on “Casuals with Katie Nolan”.

There are multiple quotes that either Reese or Clark apparently said that have spread like wildfire in the WNBA fandom. “Y’all make $1400 a week, I make $1400 in 7 days.” A post alleged that Reese said this. It had more than 100k likes across social media. “This post has 111K likes on Instagram, and there’s no record Angel Reese ever said this,” SB Nation’s Noa Dalzell shared. “Misinformation/fake news is just getting so insane. I don’t even know how you combat this.”

Then the popular parody account NBA Centel put out a post which alleged that Clark said this after Angel Reese appeared on the NBA 2K26 cover, “At first I thought it was a prank. I’m happy for her, though.” This post has 72k likes. It’s obviously a manufactured quote, but on the fly, it could be perceived as real by some. However, this is just the nature of the account across the WNBA and the NBA. No one is spared from the trolling. 

It’s just that a part of the WNBA fanbase has little information regarding this and takes things literally, without verification. The fake news problem is prevalent in the social media era, and the WNBA is just getting affected this year because of its massive increase in popularity. Courtesy of the pay-per-interaction model of social media, this clickbait type of quotes and fake news is never going to go away. The solution is always verifying each piece of information from trusted sources before concluding, be it regarding the player you support or a rival. 

That’s where people get it wrong: they selectively verify the information because of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the tendency for people to seek out, interpret, favor, and remember information in a way that confirms their existing beliefs or preconceptions. This cognitive bias leads individuals to focus on evidence that supports what they already think while ignoring or dismissing information that contradicts their views. Like Katie Nolan further said, “It informs an opinion they already have. They scroll past it and then they use it in conversation if they if it ever comes up.”

We need WNBA and sports fans in general to beat this and start rigorous verification. On the other hand, you can’t control social media spirals, but the mainstream media should be following this, too. While it starts as harmless trolling, it turns into something more ugly, eventually affecting the players. 

WNBA Under Fire: Security and Hate Issues Mount

Over the period of the 2025 season, there were multiple incidents of fans throwing d–dos on the court towards the players. The players could have gotten hurt, but fortunately, none did. However, it did impact the optics of the league.“Everyone’s trying to make sure the W is not a joke and it’s taken seriously, and then that happens,” Caitlin Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham said. 

The WNBA responded in a statement: “The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league. Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans.”  Beyond those multiple incidents, Angel Reese has been a victim of racist abuse on social media. However, that is not limited to the WNBA and has been consistent since her LSU days. 

“I’ve been through so much,” she said. “I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times, death threats, I’ve been sexualized,  I’ve been threatened. I’ve been so many things, and I’ve stood strong every single time.” That hasn’t changed much in the WNBA. The misinformation is a part of a much larger hate train towards athletes, be it WNBA or NBA. Brittney Griner faced a wave of this during her controversy, where she was detained in Russia. Even later on, Stephen A Smith interpreted one of her fake quotes regarding Caitlin Clark and called her out while saying, “somebody who is now free, back in America, on home soil, would not have too much to complain about.”

The players are affected because of this, leading to the WNBA’s on-court product decreasing in quality. In response, the WNBA rolled out the “No Space for Hate” campaign aimed at reducing hateful language. Before games, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s recorded message asks for civility and respect from he attendees. The league also improved its mental health offerings. The WNBA has equipped players, their families, and league staff with Social Protect, an AI-powered app that automatically deletes hateful and abusive comments across TikTok, Instagram, and more. 

This tool, already trusted by Australia’s rugby governing body, puts real-time digital protection right in the hands of those facing online hate. The fires haven’t been put out despite the measures. “I don’t think the league has done enough,” said Sami Whitcomb. It’s a complicated problem to solve, but the league should at least ramp up its efforts to do so.  With the CBA situation around Caitlin Clark and Co. still in the grey, this problem has taken a backseat, but something that needs to be addressed soon.