Caitlin Clark reacts to rival Angel Reese’s season-ending injury

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While they may be rivals on the court, Caitlin Clark was saddened by the news that Angel Reese would miss the rest of the WNBA season due to injury.

The Indiana Fever superstar said it was “devastating” to see Reese go down and that the Chicago Sky forward had “done some incredible things” during her rookie season.

“It’s obviously, definitely sad anytime you see anybody go down with an injury, especially people that you came into this league with,” Clark said. “Whether it was Cam (Brink), whether it was Angel, and especially Angel.

“Like, you want to see her finish out this year, obviously, she’s had a historic year, and she’s done some incredible things.”

Reese announced on social media Saturday night that her season was done and the Sky confirmed the news, indicating that it was a wrist injury.

Reese ended her rookie season averaging 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game while setting a single-season record for rebounds and a rookie record of 26 double-doubles.

Clark heaped praise on Reese while noting that this year’s rookie class has been rocked by injuries.

“For me, getting to play against her, her motor is up there, if not the best in the league, like she just doesn’t stop working,” Clark said. “So you know, congratulations to her, I thought she had a tremendous year, and I thought she came to the league and really did what she’s done well her entire career, as long as I’ve known her. So it’s definitely devastating. That’s never anything you want to see from a player.

“And then obviously, our rookie class has kind of been hit with a few more injuries than you would have liked to see.”

While Clark and Reese have been rivals on the court since college, they have shown support for each other off it.

Fans of Clark, however, have crossed the line several times, according to Reese, who said they have directed racist comments towards her and made death threats.

Reese, opened up about the issues on the debut episode of her podcast, Unapologetically Angel, released last Thursday.

The 22-year-old made sure to point out that Clark, also 22, is not to blame for the actions of her fans, saying that she didn’t believe the Fever superstar “stands on any of that.” 

“I think it’s really just the fans. Her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, that are like, they ride for her and I respect that respectfully,” Reese said.

“But sometimes it’s very disrespectful. I think there’s a lot of racism when it comes to it and I don’t believe she stands on any of that, but when it comes to death threats – I’m talking about people have come down to my address, followed me home.

“It’s come down to multiple occasions people have made AI pictures of me naked, literally.”

She said that people have sent those AI-generated explicit images to her family members, who then reached out to her.

During the hour-long episode, Reese also said that Clark “is an amazing player and I’ve always thought she’s an amazing player.”