Caitlin Clark can’t wait to face Angel Reese and Chicago Sky again on Sunday – but bemoaned how a show from rapper Russ has stopped the WNBA rivals facing off at a bigger venue.
The Indiana Fever sensation is also adamant that her and Reese do not have a ‘rivalry’ amid controversy surrounding their recent battles on the court, despite admitting the attention it brings is a good thing for the sport.
Tickets for Sunday’s game between the Fever and the Sky are beginning at $230 on StubHub as of Friday night for the third game between the league’s two biggest names.
Speaking after she packed out State Farm Arena with 17,000 fans as Indiana beat Atlanta Dream for a fourth straight win, Clark questioned why Sunday’s game isn’t at a bigger venue as well.
‘I saw the ticket prices, I guess the only thing is I’m surprised we aren’t playing at the United Center,’ Clark said, before admitting she was unaware that the rapper has a show scheduled in the evening.
‘I thought that would have been really good for the game and all the women’s basketball fans in Chicago. Maybe there’s a conflict of some sort I don’t know about – obviously that’s a little above my paygrade.’
The United Center holds nearly 21,000 fans while the Wintrust Arena, the venue for Sunday’s game, holds less than half that at 10,000.
While Clark made a questionable claim that her rivalry with Reese and Sky is purely drawn up by the media, she admitted she was happy to play her part if it stokes up the interest levels.
‘I’m pretty sure that the only people who view this as a rivalry is all of you,’ she said.
‘For us, it’s just a game of basketball. That’s what it is. If it’s going to help move the game forward then absolutely. That’s amazing. That’s what it should be. People can talk about it.
‘We’re excited. We have to wipe this (the Atlanta win), learn from it. We travel tonight, get there, practice, prep and then play the next day at 4pm. Like I said, if that’s what is going to help the game move forward then absolutely (call it a rivalry).
‘I think the two prior matchups lived up to what everyone was expecting, just really great basketball games honestly.’
Clark was brutally bodychecked to the ground by Chennedy Carter in the first game against Sky on June 1 – with Reese leaping up off the bench to cheer the challenge.
Two weeks later, Reese appeared to hit Clark in the head as she tried to block a shot at the rim and was given a flagrant foul. Speaking after the game, Reese said Clark gets ‘a special whistle’ from referees to protect her.
Furthermore, at the end of May Reese deleted a tweet which was interpreted by many as being aimed at Clark after Sky beat New York Liberty.
‘And that’s on getting a WIN in a packed area not just cause of one player on our charter flight. #SKYTOWN,’ she wrote, with a blowing-a-kiss emoji at the end.
Reese and her Sky team did not have charter flights at the start of the season, but Clark and Indiana did. Reese also appeared to be referencing how Clark has mainly been credited with the surge of interest in the WNBA after being picked first by Indiana in April’s Draft – the same event where Reese was picked seventh by Chicago.
But wherever Clark goes, people show up and sell the place out. Friday in Atlanta, Clark’s first time playing in the city, was no different. She’s clearly getting a taste for the big stage.
‘It’s fun, you can feel the energy tonight,’ Clark said. ‘There aren’t many cheering against us and that certainly helps.
‘I think that’s energy you can feed off. You can just feel it, it’s something you always want and you want to perform for them. You want to be great for them.’
