What if Caitlin Clark / Angel Reese divide is more than just a basketball thing?
What you’ll read in this post:
The Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese rivalry hearkens back to the Magic vs. Bird drama of the 1980s. Great players trying to outwork another and some of the best basketball we’ve seen in a while. The women’s game is on the verge of experiencing something like the NBA.
The Clark / Reese rivalry has a dark side also, just like Magic / Bird. There’s a reason that NBA ratings increased so dramatically and hoops fans seemed to pull for either the Lakers or the Celtics. Now, we could see the same trend appear in the women’s game.
Women’s basketball has become more like the men’s game, and maybe that’s not what we should hope for.
“No one gossips about other people's secret virtues.”
— Bertrand Russell
Magic versus Bird reborn
Any basketball fan alive in the 1980s can tell you about one of the most storied rivalries in basketball history — Magic Johnson’s LA Lakers and Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics. In that decade, one of these teams participated in NBA Finals every year. In three instances, these two teams met in the Finals. In that decade, the Lakers took home five titles and the Celtics three. Both teams had superstars in the lineups, but Magic and Bird were the focal points for each team. Even before they hit the NBA, Magic and Bird clashed in the 1979 NCAA title game, as Magic’s Michigan State squad proved too much for Bird’s underdog Indiana State.
I’ve been Knicks fan since I understood basketball but I loved watching the Lakers and Celtics play. The Showtime Lakers played a faster paced basketball than the rest of the league, buoyed by Magic’s flashy passing and Kareem’s unstoppable sky-hook. People forget that Magic stood 6’ 9” and played point guard. In several seasons, Magic led the team in rebounds — unheard of for a point guard in any era. The Lakers dynasty included a number of big names — James Worthy, Bob McAdoo, and Byron Scott to name a few.
Larry Bird and the Cs had their own Murderer’s Row of players during that era. Robert Parrish, Tiny Archibald, Kevin McHale, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, and Reggie Lewis. Bird is arguably the greatest shooter in NBA history, had a killer instinct on the court, and like Johnson, excelled in all facets of the game. Bird consistently scored 20 points and pulled in 10 rebounds per game. On any given night, he could light up a defender. For context, please check out the story on Bird dropping a monster game on Sonics rookie Shawn Kemp because Kemp broke most of Bird’s high school records in Indiana.
The Magic versus Bird rivalry changed basketball. The NBA noticed the hype around the two players and marketed this aspect aggressively. In 1980, the Lakers won the title, followed by the Celtics in 1981. The following year, NBA viewership doubled and never looked back. Only Michael Jordan’s dominant Bulls run could top the Finals numbers in viewership, and since 2000, the league has experienced a decline in viewership back to pre-1982 levels.
Fast forward to the current day and we’re seeing something similar play out in the WNBA. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, two highly regarded rookies in women’s professional basketball, are changing the way society views women’s basketball. Their rivalry mirrors the Magic versus Bird drama and it has the potential to make women’s basketball more culturally relevant than ever.
During their last two years in college, Clark and Reese met twice in the NCAA tournament, with each leading their team to victory in one instance. Despite gaudy numbers for Clark, it was Reese who won a title with LSU, trash talking in the waning moments and leaving a bad taste for many Iowa fans, who regard Clark as Iowa’s greatest export not named corn.
By the numbers, Clark is a much better scorer than Reese, but they have different roles in the game. Also, Reese averages less turnovers and gathers more rebounds per game. In terms of bringing attention to the game, though, Clark has more of an impact. At Iowa, the team sold out all home and away games — which is unparalleled in the women’s game.
Viewership in the WNBA has already increased this season, and of course, that is in part due to hard work by Reese and other women who have played over the last two decades. However, Clark’s Indiana Fever squad has the second worst record in the league at the moment (2-9), yet has the highest average attendance through the early part of the season. The Fever are averaging over 16,500 in attendance so far and it’s not because of their level of play. It’s Caitlin Clark. She’s ‘him.’ (Only young folks will understand.) I assure you that when Clark and Reese play against each other, it’s a game I want to watch. And apparently, I’m not alone.
The entire league is benefitting in attendance, with four teams in the league averaging over 10,000 attendees per game. Last year, no team averaged more than 10,000.
WNBA League revenue took a huge increase from 2022 to 2023, going from $60 million to $200 million. What will 2024 look like? Probably another increase, since ticket sales are up over 90% league wide. This is a good thing for the league. Women’s basketball has become more competitive, nuanced, and fun to watch. Are they on par with the men in terms of athleticism? No, but the tend to play the game better because they don’t always have the same athletic abilities as men. Women exhibit the fundamentals of the game, including teamwork. More people enjoying basketball is never a bad thing.
What if the Clark / Reese rivalry is a metaphor for bigger divide?
While America loved watching the Lakers and Celtics battle for hoops supremacy, the rivalry had a cultural impact beyond basketball. Magic, Bird, and their respective teams represented different styles in the game and had different fan bases. What if race plays a role in how we perceive the players and who we want to see win?
The demographics of basketball have changed over the course of the NBA’s history. In 1950, 2% of the players were black. By 1970, 55% of the NBA’s players were black. Since 1980, black players represent about 75% of the league and the percentage of white players hovers around 15-20% (other ethnicities have entered the game since). Simply put, a racial minority dominates the NBA. So, we have a sport which white people once almost exclusively controlled, to being an area where being black is the norm.
When the game moved to being dominated by black players, Larry Bird represented the ‘great white hope’ in a blue collar city with a history of racial problems. Bostonians will still argue that Bird is the greatest player of all time (and Michael Jordan would take that personally). The city was fractured along racial lines due to the forced integration of public schools through a busing plan that required children to travel out of neighborhoods for a more diverse student population.
It probably didn’t help that the team’s name is the Celtics — a choice by the team’s founder to represent the Irish heritage of Boston. Heck, even Bird’s nickname brought a twinge of whiteness — “The Hick from French Lick.”
Boston native and ESPN writer Howie Bryant wrote a piece several years ago regarding the Magic-Bird phenomenon. He mentioned that in the heat of the rivalry, black citizens of Boston actually wanted the Lakers to win. The Celtics and Bird were seen as the ‘white team.’ Bryant also said that former Boston reporter Bob Ryan told him that loudest cheers he heard in the old Boston Garden were any time Kevin McHale blocked a black player’s shot.
The Celtics’ white, ‘cerebral’ and technical game contrasted with a black NBA, particularly the Lakers and their “Showtime” brand of basketball. Magic and his squad fundamentally changed the tempo of basketball. And it was fun to watch. But this style of basketball deviated from the more traditional brand of the game, and it fit neatly into the ‘black people always try to be flashy’ trope. (Also, I don’t even pretend to have the space to comment about the old ABA league, its inherent blackness with Dr. J leading the charge, and how it made the game less traditional, including the invention of the dunk contest.)
One of the all-time NBA greats and longtime Laker, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had also wrangled white basketball fans. Abdul-Jabbar was once Lew Alcindor, but he changed his name after a conversion to Islam. This, and his affinity for Malcolm X didn't win him any popularity contests. Abdul-Jabbar also declined to play for the US Olympic team in 1968, stating, “I had no intention of disrupting my education so that a country that was abusing my people could be made to shine for the world.” It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say he was not always appreciated or liked by white fans of the era.
White people felt like they had lost basketball. The Celtics, led by an Indiana native white guy with the whitest name possible, were going to demonstrate their superiority. Larry Bird was the white champion. And now, Caitlin Clark is the new Larry Bird.
Bird and Clark represent the same archetype. Caitlin Clark is a nice, wholesome-looking woman from Iowa. She graduated from an in-state school and on the basketball court, defenders better know she’s liable to shoot from anywhere on the floor. She says and does the ‘right’ things. She doesn’t complain. And she’s white.
Though the WNBA is also a league where white women are the minority, the United States, as a whole, is still predominantly white. Most people who play and watch basketball for leisure are white. Just like the NBA, the WNBA needed a Caitlin Clark. Would they still benefit from a woman of color who acted and conducted herself like Clark? Yes. But not as much.
Angel Reese is unapologetically black. She wears makeup and false eyelashes on the court. She doesn’t seem shy in terms of trash talk. And she let Caitlin Clark know about it when LSU put Iowa on ice in the 2023 NCAA title game. Her fans affectionately refer to her as the ‘Bayou Barbie.’ She attends high profile events like the Met Gala and plays ball the next night. Reese doesn’t mind posting unfiltered thoughts on social media. But she’s talented. Reese is playing at a high level as a rookie and her career will likely improve.
Is it possible that black women’s players and fans in 2024 are simply frustrated by the fact that the WNBA has not received nearly as much attention until one white woman enters the league? I think so. And it’s perhaps not so different from the 1980s, when black players and fans couldn’t understand why people referred to the Lakers’ style of basketball as too ‘playground’ and that it worked
A number of commentators have questioned why fans cannot root for both Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese to succeed. They know the answer, and they don’t want to admit it. If you’re any kind of basketball fan, ask yourself whose team you want to win — Clark or Reese?
This should not be construed as me believing that everyone is racist. Maybe it’s just league owners seeing the one color they care about the most — green. Do I believe business executives would exploit an already existing division within our country for financial gain? Without a doubt.
Does the WNBA really want to follow the path of the NBA?
The level of play in women’s basketball players has steadily increased in the last 30 years. The players are bigger, stronger, faster, and the game action is smoother. The women’s game is undergoing a transformation much like the men’s game — they’re just a little behind because of a late start. Yet, I fear that this is the beginning of an era in women’s basketball that will leave it in the same sorry state as the men’s game.
If you’re not a basketball fan, this may not make sense. The NBA has become almost unwatchable for me. Since the early 2000s, the league has implemented changes which make for a more ‘fun’ game to watch, but it’s a more individualistic game. I miss seeing the teamwork involved in basketball. Precision passing, the pick and roll, motion offenses. We don’t see this brand of basketball as much as we once did. I know this is anecdotal, but it seems that coaches prefer to isolate their best player and see if he can win a one-on-one matchup. (I believe the NBA defensive 3-second rule is nonsense and true zone defenses would be fun to watch. It’s a hill I will die on.) The rules regarding fouls have been changed to favor offense and more scoring. Teams foul non-stop in the last few minutes of a game in a bizarre internal competition of who can make their free throws.
Regardless of skin color, NBA players act in bizarre ways. The celebrate when they score a bucket like they won the lottery. They beat their chest or point to their jersey. Why? I don’t know. Players have their own podcasts and talk shows. They turn down multi-million dollar contracts because they “… have a family to feed.” Real fans know.
These are grandiose forms of self-glorification which serve as an indictment about our society as much as it does the NBA. To point out examples of this hyper-individualistic mania would require a post unto itself.
Do we want want the women’s game to follow the example of the NBA? I don’t think we do. But it’s going down that path anyway.