Caitlin Clark had no malicious intent on Angel Reese foul

The rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese heightened on Saturday when the Indiana Fever took on the Chicago Sky in their WNBA regular season opener.

Clark was assessed a foul against Reese when the Fever star stripped Reese of the ball with enough force to knock the Sky forward off balance. Reese confronted Clark after the play as Aaliyah Boston held her back. Clark was given a Flagrant 1 after review and Reese made one of her two free-throw attempts.

When she was asked about the foul after the game, Clark downplayed it.

“Let’s not make it anything that it’s not. It was just a good play on the basketball. I’m not sure what the refs saw to upgrade it. I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious, that’s not the type of player I am,” Clark told reporters. “I went for the ball. That’s clear as day in the replay. You watch it, it shouldn’t have been upgraded. But again, that’s up to the ref’s discretion.”

Reese agreed with the call, but didn’t want to discuss the incident further.

“Basketball play,” she told reporters, via The Athletic’s James Boyd. “Refs got it right. Move on.”

The play made its rounds on social media, including House of Highlights’ Instagram page where they captioned the play as two players “going at it” after Clark’s foul. Reese’s teammate, Ariel Atkins, took issue with the wording.

“Realistically, hard fouls happen,” Atkins commented. “But the hate is unnecessary and the narrative y’all have built is weird to me and dangerous. Just let them hoop.”

The rivalry between Clark and Reese dates back to when they were at Iowa and LSU, respectively. In 2023, LSU defeated Iowa in the NCAA championship game, but Iowa got its revenge the following year and eliminated LSU in the Elite Eight. Reese said prior to tipoff in 2024 that she and Clark don’t hate one another, there’s just “no friends” once they step on the court.