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Iconic former WNBA star Sue Bird has weighed in on how media and sports fans seem to be turning the rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese into a debate about race. According to Bird, it’s actually not that deep.
During a podcast discussion with Taylor Rooks, Sue Bird — who played in the WNBA for 20 years from from 2002 to 2022 and is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport — railed against the narrative that the rivalry between young stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese is fueled by race.
Earlier this month, the WNBA launched an investigation after someone allegedly heard hateful comments directed at Reese during the Chicago Sky’s loss to the Indiana Fever before ultimately concluding they could not find any evidence of such an occurrence.
“What is the line between things that we should talk about in The W that are additive to the game. And that line that completely takes the focus away from what is happening on the court?” the WNBA legend was asked by Taylor Rooks.
“Sadly in women’s sports for a lot of reasons, once it does cross over, it’s gone we can’t even get it back. And it’s hard to articulate, it’s almost like you know it when you see it,” Sure Bird said on a Bleacher Report podcast.
“I think a big part of it is people not understanding that our league, the WNBA, is physical and it’s competitive. The same way you’ve watched men’s sports be physical and competitive for all these years — this is not new. All the little fights, or all the little moments where people do the stare down, this is has been in our league from the jump. This has been in sports from the jump. It’s the same for women. And it doesn’t have some deeper meaning to it.”
Regardless of whatever is fueling the rivalry between Clark and Reese, it’s obviously been massive for the WNBA’s success and the league’s ratings have soared since the pair entered the league last year, with Clark being a particularly powerful audience magnet.