Angel Reese deserves better: Sky rookie’s Caitlin Clark comment went viral for all the wrong reasons​

Ever since Angel Reese’s LSU team defeated Caitlin Clark’s Iowa squad in the 2023 National Championship game, Reese has faced a double standard that she is well aware of.

“It all started from the national championship game. I’ve been dealing with this for two years now,” she told Chicago media on Monday.

Reese drew the ire of the nation when she used Clark’s celebration from an earlier round in the tournament against her back in that 2023 game.

Never mind that it was Clark who began the taunting in the tournament. Reese was the one that Keith Olbermann called a “f—ing idiot.” Barstool’s Dave Portnoy labeled her as a “classless piece of s—.”

That obvious double standard hasn’t gone away. Reese was the subject of controversy yet again after her Sky teammate Chennedy Carter hip-checked Clark during a game against the Fever.

The play was dirty enough to be upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul two days later, but not out of the realm of what often happens in any professional basketball game. The response, however, was one of a kind.

Many were quick to express outrage at Carter. The Sky’s hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, published an editorial likening the foul to a criminal assault. (To the staff’s credit, Tribune beat writer Julia Poe quickly and firmly denounced that story.)

The dumbest comment of the day came from ESPN’s Pat McAfee, who said the quiet part out loud.

“I would like the media people that continue to say, ‘This rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class.’ Nah, just call it for what it is,” McAfee said. “There’s one white b— for the Indiana team who is a superstar.”

Putting aside for a second McAfee’s crude and idiotic classification of Clark, he’s also dead wrong about this rookie class. Reese, Cameron Brink and others have been outstanding to start the season. But Reese’s play on the court isn’t judged the same as Clark’s.

Her behavior off the court is set up to an even more unfair double standard. She can’t escape the criticism even when she pulls up the receipts.

“Did you see when [Jonquel Jones] knocked me down?” Reese asked one reporter on Monday. “Go check the film. She didn’t get a Flagrant 1, she got a regular foul. It was the same thing.”

I don’t know if anybody else took Reese up on her offer to go back and look at the tape, but I did. And she was right.

Jones’ hip-check on Reese did look similar to Carter’s on Clark. Jones received no backlash because those types of incidents are not all that uncommon in the WNBA.

Reese’s plea to look at the tape and get the facts straight fell on mostly deaf ears. Instead, one 37-second sound bite made the rounds from the generous 13-plus minutes that she provided in answering all of the assembled media’s questions.

Reese was roundly criticized for her “it’s because of me, too” quote. (Read the replies to that tweet if you don’t believe me). Her haters claimed that she was making everything about her. But they missed her point, which was made in her full response.

That viral clip was cut off midway through Reese’s comments. She continued by praising the rest of the league and the shoulders upon which she and Clark stand.

“It’s not just because of one person,” Reese continued. “A lot of us have done so much for this game. Chennedy has been here before obviously. There are so many great players in this league that have deserved this [attention] for a really, really long time. Luckily, it’s coming now.”

Reese’s full answer filled with praise for her teammates and the rest of the league wouldn’t fit into her neat narrative as a selfish villain. It was abruptly edited out. Predictably, her haters ate it up.

Reese went on to explain the double standard that she and her teammates face.

“My teammates have shared experiences where they’ve gotten their nose broken. This has been going on for a long time,” Reese explained.

Reese has also had her fair share of initiations into the league. That hip check by Jones was not even close to the most physical play that she has encountered. Earlier in the season, she was choke-slammed by Alyssa Thomas during a nationally televised game.

That play did make the rounds, but not to the same degree as Carter’s foul on Clark. It’s not fair, but not much has been for Reese. She takes the criticism on the chin better than most would.

“Yeah, negative things have probably been said about me. But honestly, I’ll take that because look at where women’s basketball is. People are talking about women’s basketball that you’d never think would be talking about women’s basketball. People are pulling up to games, we’ve got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas, just because of one single game. I’ll take the bad guy role. I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates.”

The media needs to be better with the way that Reese is covered. It starts with listening to what she is trying to tell us. Clark is a great player. But so is Reese, and the W is overflowing with talent that deserves attention.

“Growing the game, everybody’s going to be treated the same and should be treated the same.”

If that’s the message of a villain, then count me among them.