Angel Reese closes the book on Caitlin Clark dustup, says women face double-standard

It’s been a little more than a month since the conversation began about Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark in the women’s national championship. In a new interview, Reese has closed the book on the situation.

Reese spoke with Sports Illustrated as part of an NIL deal with the company, which also saw her join SI Swimsuit. She’s the second high-profile female athlete to agree to such a deal, joining fellow LSU sensation Livvy Dunne, as On3’s Pete Nakos reported. In the interview, Reese said there’s no ill will toward Clark after the “You can’t see me” gesture toward the Iowa star during LSU’s national championship victory over the Hawkeyes.

It generated plenty of conversation — and Reese pointed out the dialogue that was used about women who talk trash similar to men’s basketball players.

“Caitlin and I are cool,” Reese told SI. “It’s just being able to force people to accept that women can talk trash. The women’s side gets penalized for it or we’re considered as not being ladylike and that we’re not playing by the rules. We work just as hard as the men. Women can be who we are; women can be competitive.”

In the immediate aftermath of the title game, Clark offered a poignant defense of Reese and said she didn’t think the LSU star deserved to be criticized. Reese then responded with a similar sentiment to the one she expressed to SI, saying she and Clark never had any issues in the past.

“Man, people don’t realize, me and her have never had beef,” Reese said. “We played against each other for so long and she’s a great player. I love playing against Caitlin, and I feel like me and her are the face of women’s basketball at the college level, right now. So, just being able to have that and her come out and say that was great for us.”

Reese and Clark are two of the highest-profile women’s basketball players in the country. Reese has an On3 NIL Valuation of $1.4 million, which puts her at No. 10 in the On3 NIL 100 and No. 1 in the On3 Women’s Basketball NIL Rank. Clark, meanwhile, has an NIL Valuation of $796K to come in at No. 40 in the On3 NIL 100 and No. 4 in the On3 Women’s Basketball NIL Rank.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.