Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will return to the court on Friday when the WNBA returns from a lengthy break for the Olympics. Both the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever are currently inside the playoff cut line as the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds, respectively.
However, there is another underlying competition between the two teams.
Either Reese or Clark is going to win Rookie of the Year. It is a two-woman race — even though it shouldn’t be. The latter has a far more compelling case.
Clark is averaging 17.1 points per game on 40.5% shooting with 5.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.5 steals. She is shooting 32.7% from beyond the arc.
Reese is also having a great season. The No. 7 overall pick is averaging a double-double with 13.5 points and 12 rebounds, but only 1.8 assists. She is shooting 40.2% overall and 20% from three.
Both rookies are thriving. They’re both on track to be two of the best players in league for a long time.
On one end of the debate, the Indiana Fever believes Clark deserves to be crowned as Rookie of the Year.
On the other end of the debate, a brutal supercut of Reese’s missed layups is going viral. It’s hard to watch and runs for more than eight minutes. She has enough misses to fill an eight minute lowlight tape.
Angel Reese missed layups but they get increasingly more ridiculous pic.twitter.com/qf5Ob4RDkU
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) August 13, 2024
Need more be said?
Chicago has 16 games left. Indiana has 14. A lot of things could change between now and the end of the regular season in terms of playoff seeding and the Rookie of the Year conversation.
But with that being said, as things currently stand, it’s hard to give the nod to Angel Reese over Caitlin Clark when you really break things down. Their numbers may be similar to some extent, but the tape doesn’t lie.