We’re only one game into the new WNBA schedule and I’m already exhausted.
After just 40 minutes of play, everything has descended into the kind of drama you’d expect from middle-school rivalries. Discussions of a proxy race war have erupted on X. A fierce debate has emerged among commentators such as Ryan Clark, Emmanuel Acho, and Robert Griffin III over whether Angel Reese harbors animosity towards Caitlin Clark.
(I have a feeling neither have any real love for each other — and who cares).
It’s gonna be one long season, folks.
During Saturday’s matchup, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, bolstered by key signings in offseason free agency, decisively defeated Angel Reese’s team, the Chicago Sky, in a 35-point thrashing. On the court, Clark recorded a triple-double performance, and her teammate DeWanna Bonner advanced to become the third highest scorer in league history.
The league anticipated that this matchup would attract significant attention, but it has spiraled into a spectacle marked by vague accusations of racism.
During the third quarter, Clark fouled Reese as she was going for a layup — and Reese charged at Clark, but the Fever’s Aliyah Boston stepped into the fray to protect her star guard. Reese was held back by her coach and shouted what sounded like some f-bombs at Clark. It was upgraded to a flagrant foul against Clark, and both Reese and Boston were hit with technicals.
In typical form, Clark yapped at the refs and disputed that it was flagrant. After the game, she acknowledged that it was up to the officials.
As the Sky forward went to the free-throw line, the Indiana hometown crowd at Gainbridge erupted in boos and jeers. After all, this is basketball, not a knitting circle.
As for Reese?
“Basketball play,” she said. “Refs got it right. Move on.”
Sure. Except this league has a knack of digging into nonsense that overshadows the game.
The WNBA is now investigating charges of “hateful comments” at Saturday’s game. There are no details about the allegations, where they came from or who they were directed at, but the league is sending the hounds in to sniff out a racial narrative, dammit.
“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or in society,” the league said in a statement. “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.”
Though there are some theories that the allegations stem from a fan’s X account, who may or may not have been at the game. This person claimed there were monkey sounds being made when Reese was at the line.
If something like that really occurred, one would expect an intervention mid-game or a word in the post game. Cameras catch every offense, perceived or real.
“There was none of that,” Dave Portnoy, who was courtside, said on X. “It was a great crowd, a positive crowd. Yeah, Angel Reese deserved to get her ass booed when she attacked Caitlin on a normal foul. Other than that, what are you talking about?”
Sky CEO Adam Fox said the team “welcome” the investigation. “We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players.”
The league regularly touts hard-nosed basketball and a fierce competitiveness.
And yet much of the ethos still feels stuck in its pre-Clark era, when the priority was intersectionality and social justice through hoops. When the game was always a secondary pursuit.
The WNBA universe regularly gives into every divisive distraction — and indulging the wishful racism of online trolls. Many of whom have assigned an imaginary KKK identity to the Indiana fanbase.
Last year, after the Fever was eliminated from the playoffs, much of the discourse centered around online trolls and mean fans. Never mind that there was so still much more meaningful basketball to be played by other teams.
Among the complainers was Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner, who said she didn’t “appreciate the new fans that sit there and yell racial slurs at myself, my teammates and the people that I play against.” There had been no indication an of that had occurred, though Clark did have a fan temporarily removed from a match against the Connecticut Sun. (Not that we know the story. She hasn’t talked about it.)
But it’s like former Fever player Erica Wheeler said last year, while acknowledging that team gets heaps of abuse too: “We just don’t care about it. Because what’s important is this organization and us winning games.”
Getting unnecessary blowback is an unfortunate side effect of the spotlight — something the league has in its grips thanks to the dynamic showmanship of Clark.
The WNBA can promote its product or it can promote useless investigations. It’s their choice, but for the sake of the game, I hope they keep it on the court.
