Stephen A. Smith addresses role of gender, race in Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese discourse

The Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky opened their respective WNBA seasons with a tense game that ended in a Fever blowout win. However, a flagrant foul that star Caitlin Clark committed on Angel Reese has taken over the discourse surrounding the game.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith addressed the discourse surrounding the Clark-Reese rivalry on First Take, focusing on their gender and respective races. In that conversation, he began by establishing with analyst Monica McNutt and Nneka Ogwumike that the pair respect each other and there’s no reason to think that they’re not friendly off the court.

“This was a basketball play,” Stephen A. Smith said. “This was the heat of the moment, I got it. The fact that the Sky was getting romped by 35 certainly didn’t help matters. I get all of that too, but the reality of the situation is clear. I thought it was a basketball play. I don’t think it’s much ado about anything. I think both of you are 100 percent correct in terms of not only attributing it to competition but loving the fact that they are allowed to compete. We should not judge women competing against each other differently than we would judge the men. I’ve got y’all back on that. You ain’t got to worry about that.”

After Clark fouled Reese, the two teams came together and got chippy over the play. Several technical fouls were then assessed, including one on Reese. There have also been accusations that fans used racially charged language at Reese, which the WNBA is now investigating.

The difference in race has become a key aspect of the Clark-Reese discourse. With Clark being white and Reese being black, there are questions that many people have about how they’re treated by fans and media alike. For Smith, it goes beyond just their race, though. It goes back to their personal history, having played competitive games going back to college.

“It’s not about black and white. It’s about that white player and that black player. Why? Because of the history that they had before they came to the WNBA. You see, it was all instigated. If Angel Reese was never in Caitlin Clark’s face, taunting her the way that she did, mimicking what Clark was doing to numerous opponents in route to the Final Four. Then, Angel Reese and LSU busted their ever living you know what at that particular moment in time, and Angel Reese was in her face chirping at her the way that she did, it would have never gotten to this point, but I have never deemed that to be a bad thing. I love that kind of confrontation. I love that kind of heat,” Smith said.

“But there are white folks in America that had a problem with Angel Reese coming at the chosen one, Caitlin Clark, that way. Because of that, they acted with a level of vitriol. How do we know that? Because Angel Reese came back to college the following years. One of the things that reduced her to tears was the vitriol that she was receiving from around the country because people were hating on her because of her elevated popularity and because she had gone at Caitlin Clark that way.”

In that respect, the rivalry isn’t necessarily the fault of either one. Instead, it’s a result of who they are. That doesn’t mean they should stop competing.

“So, now we come to the WNBA. No fault of Caitlin’s at all,” Smith said. “But in the end, because of her greatness and because people were resistant to accepting her greatness. You have people using that as an excuse to throw vitriol at other people, but in the end, here’s what I say, that’s contributed to Angel Reese becoming a household name… but that’s elevated her level of popularity.”

For Smith, there’s actually an easy comparison to the NBA in the rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. That’s the rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. It also went back to college, had a racial aspect, and ultimately made the game more popular.

“What I would say is this, as someone who grew up watching the NBA. No matter how great Michael Jordan is, obviously, it started with Bird vs. Magic. Yeah, you can talk about Showtime vs. Boston,” Smith said. “But that white superstar losing in that national championship game to that dude called Magic at Michigan State when he was at Indiana State, and then ultimately coming into the NBA. They met in the Finals three times, and they owned most of the ’80s both teams respectively. The bottom line is it contributed to elevating the popularity. So, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark embrace this. It’s okay. All you’re doing is competing.”

It appears as if the rivalry between Clark and Reese is only growing. Their next game against one another is scheduled for June 7th in Chicago.