Caitlin Clark Discusses Rookie of the Year Competition With Angel Reese

Indiana Fever rookie point guard Caitlin Clark is already making a splash during her first WNBA season.

A two-time Associated Press Player of the Year while with the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark was a no-brainer No. 1 pick in this year’s 2024 WNBA Draft. Though she played in two straight NCAA title games, the 6-footer never won a college championship.

She had one more season of NCAA eligibility but opted to declare for the draft this spring instead. For the second straight season, the Fever possessed the top selection in the draft. Two-time All-Star power forward/center Aliyah Boston was Indiana’s No. 1 pick out of South Carolina in the 2023 WNBA Draft.

Read More: Caitlin Clark Officially Selected No. 1 Overall by Indiana Fever in 2024 WNBA Draft

Across her first 31 pro contests, Clark is averaging a robust 18.0 points on .414/.330/.901 shooting splits (that 33.0 percent 3-point shooting arrives on a whopping 8.6 triple tries a night), a WNBA-best 8.1 dimes, 5.7 boards, 1.4 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game.

Perhaps Clark’s most ferocious rival on the hardwood during her collegiate run, 6-foot-3 former LSU Tigers power forward Angel Reese, was selected outside of the draft lottery with the No. 7 pick by the Chicago Sky. The former unanimous All-American bested Clark to win the 2023 NCAA championship, though her Tigers lost to Clark’s Hawkeyes in an Elite Eight encounter the following season.

Through her first 30 WNBA games, Reese is averaging 13.3 points on 38.4 percent field goal shooting and 73.7 percent foul line shooting, a league-leading 12.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks a night.

Both stars have emerged as the clear favorites to claim Rookie of the Year honors at the end of the regular season. And, with the postseason in their sights, both stars are apparently sick of being asked about that very accolade.

Read More: Stephen A. Smith Believes Angel Reese Could Beat Out Caitlin Clark for WNBA Rookie of the Year

Clark recently waxed rhapsodic, at length, about her Rookie of the Year race with Reese — and how little she cares about it. ClutchPoints’ Matthew Byrne was on the scene:

“Me and Angel would both give you the same answer. You don’t wake up and think about individual awards. I know that’s what all of you think we do,” Clark said. “That’s what everybody wants to make this about, but both of our teams are competing for playoff spots, that’s our main focus. That’s a selfish thing, to just care about an individual award. She would give you the same exact answer. I’m sure she has given you the same exact answer.”

“For us, everybody can write that, but our focus is on winning basketball games. It’s [as] simple as that. It’s winning basketball games, and that was the same story for us when we were in college. If you’re playing basketball to… win individual awards, no matter what level you’re at, you’re doing it wrong. And that’s not fun and that’s not being a good teammate,” Clark added.

Reese and Clark became the first players in a decade to be named All-Stars as rookies. To Clark’s point, both women’s respective franchises are very much in the hunt for bottom-tier playoff playoff seeds.

Read More: Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Make Unique WNBA History By Making All-Star Roster

Indiana has won its last three games in a row and is 7-3 across the club’s most recent 10 games. The Fever have improved to a .500 record (16-16) and currently occupy the league’s No. 6 seed.

The Sky, losers of their last five straight games, are still barely clinging to the WNBA’s final playoff spot, the No. 8 seed, with a lackluster 11-20 record. Chicago is just one game ahead of the Atlanta Dream, who to their discredit have lost their own last four games.

Whichever player wins Rookie of the Year honors or even advances deep into the playoffs, it seems pretty clear that basketball fans will get to watch these two tangle on the hardwood for years to come.