The WNBA named Caitlin Clark the league's Rookie of the Year for 2024, but it surely wasn't a unanimous determination.
Despite the indisputable fact that Clark broke the WNBA's single-season help document, rookie scoring document and have become the first rookie in historical past to document a triple-double, solely 66 of the 67 voters selected her to win the award. The different voter selected Chicago Sky rookie and Clark's longtime rival Angel Reese.
Reese was a darkish horse contender for the award behind Clark for the first few months of the season. However, her rookie marketing campaign was minimize brief after having season-ending surgical procedure for her wrist after struggling an harm on Sept. 6.
Clark widened her lead in practically each statistical class in the weeks previous to and after Reese's season ended. On prime of that, she led the Indiana Fever to the playoffs for the first time in eight years as the workforce's main scorer.
Reese was solely the third-leading scorer on a Chicago Sky workforce that completed the season with a 13-27 document, the third-worst in the league, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky look on throughout the recreation on June 1, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Jeff Haynes/NBAE through Getty Images)
The one statistic the place Reese held an edge over Clark was in phrases of rebounds, with greater than twice as many rebounds per recreation at 13.1, in comparison with Clark's 5.7. Reese has a pure top benefit at 6-foot-3, in comparison with Clark at 6-foot-0.
But Clark held benefits in phrases of factors with 19.2 to Reese's 13.6 per recreation, assists with 8.4 to Reese's 1.9 and even blocks with 0.7 to Reese's 0.5, regardless of the top drawback.
Like Clark, Reese additionally broke a landmark WNBA single-season document throughout her rookie yr, breaking the single-season document for rebounds throughout a recreation in opposition to the Minnesota Lynx on Sept. 2 with 418 on the yr. But not like Clark, Reese didn't maintain that document by the finish of the season. After Reese's season-ending surgical procedure, MVP A'ja Wilson broke Reese's document in the ultimate week of the season, when Wilson recorded her 419th rebound.
However, regardless of the statistical discrepancies between Clark and Reese, the Sky rookie had her passionate supporters this yr who argued her case over Clark.
Former NBA All-Star Joakim Noah, who was a 6-foot-11 heart who additionally specialised in rebounding and dominating in the paint, informed Fox News Digital that he would vote for Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese over Clark for Rookie of the Year if he had a say, throughout an interview at NBA Night at the Emirates Suite at the U.S. Open in early September.
INSIDE CAITLIN CLARK AND ANGEL REESE'S IMPACT ON MEN'S BASKETBALL
Aug. 25, 2024; Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Sky ahead Angel Reese (5) walks on the court docket throughout the first half at Wintrust Arena. (Kamil Krzaczynski-USA Today Sports)
“I would say Angel Reese,” Noah stated. “When I look at her play, she reminds me a lot of myself.”
In head-to-head matchups this yr, the Fever beat the Sky three out of 4 occasions. In two of these matchups, Reese put up extra factors than Clark whereas placing up extra rebounds than Clark in all 4 conferences. Clark put up extra assists in all 4 conferences.
Reese’s top benefit over Clark has resulted in the Sky rookie having stronger finishes in the paint, and some very bodily blocks and block makes an attempt. Some situations have additionally resulted in some laborious fouls being known as in opposition to Reese for her protection on Clark. In a recreation on June 16, Clark was stepping into for a layup, and Reese didn’t fairly have the wingspan to dam the shot, however received a flagrant 1 when she hit Clark in the head from above as an alternative.
Reese's popularity and character, in comparison with Clark, have additionally garnered a passionate following, albeit a smaller one than Clark's when accounting for attendance and TV viewership figures.
Rutgers freshman males's basketball participant Ace Bailey, the No. 3-ranked recruit in the nation this yr, informed Fox News Digital at his workforce's media day on Sept. 24 that he would select to pursue Reese for recommendation as an alternative of Clark if he may solely discuss to one huge girls’s basketball star.
“I would probably talk to Angel Reese, her competitiveness for sure, what keeps her driving,” Bailey stated.
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Angel Reese of the LSU Lady Tigers reacts towards Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes throughout the fourth quarter throughout the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament championship recreation at American Airlines Center on April 2, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Reese's and Clark's reputations, fan bases and longstanding rivalry have been tied to their respective races relationship again to their most well-known assembly in the 2023 NCAA girls's nationwide championship recreation. Reese and LSU defeated Clark and Iowa, and Reese pointed to her finger to boast in a viral second that garnered intense backlash and help.
Reese stated it was a second that “changed her life forever,” throughout the first episode of her podcast “Unapolagetically Angel” when she accused Clark's followers of racism, demise threats and even sending specific AI photographs of her to her relations.
“I think it's really just the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, that are really just, they ride for her, and I respect that, respectfully. But sometimes it's very disrespectful. I think there's a lot of racism when it comes to it,” Reese stated.
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