Jason Whitlock chastises Angel Reese for wanting greater credit for the WNBA’s expansion, saying, “Without Caitlin Clark, no one knows anything about you.”
Whitlock believes Clark has had a greater impact on the WNBA than Reese has.
While many contend that Angel Reese had an equal or greater influence on women’s basketball and the WNBA than did Caitlin Clark, others, including Jason Whitlock, aren’t buying it.
Whitlock launched yet another tirade against the rookie Chicago Sky player, claiming that Reese’s anger at not being recognized as the driving force behind women’s basketball’s surge in viewership is unjustified. The 57-year-old podcaster claims that this lack of acknowledgment is indicative of the real circumstances and implies that Angel’s influence is not as great as she thinks it is.
“It’s like a hot girl; she rarely gets told the truth. So if you wanna sit there and say, ‘Hey, I am the reason this audience is showing up too,’ there is gonna be people like me and others that are gonna say, ‘Well, I’m not really sure, because, without Caitlin Clark, no one knows or cares anything about you, Angel Reese,'” he said.
Whitlock isn’t a Reese fan
The 6’3″ forward hasn’t been able to translate her scoring prowess from college to the WNBA. That said, she still averages 12.4 points (third best on the team), 10.8 rebounds (second best in the league), and 1.9 steals (fifth most in the league) per game.
Whitlock, though, feels that Angel isn’t deserving of the public attention that her basketball skills merit. Reese’s offensive deficiencies were even implied to be ridiculous by veterans like Candace Parker, before he declared the LSU product to be the “most overrated athlete in all of sports.”
Accepting the competition with Clark
Whitlock is not the only one who has attacked Reese in public. Owner of Barstool Sports Dave Portnoy chastised the Sky rookie, telling her to embrace rather than minimize her battle with Clark.
“I would like Angel more if she just ate it. If she was just like, ‘I fuc***g hate her, and I’m going to go at her and make her life miserable,'” Dave said. “But she doesn’t do that. She acts that way, and then she acts like people are making it up.”
Whether it’s her championship ring gesture to Clark during their collegiate basketball days or cheering teammate Chennedy Carter for knocking Caitlin to the ground, it is evident that Angel is not the biggest fan of the Indiana Fever rookie. Admitting that would create another exciting narrative that could potentially make women’s basketball even more popular. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s rivalry saved the NBA. Perhaps Angel and Caitlin could do the same for the WNBA. That’s when the Sky forward would get the credit she demands.
