WNBA fans flocked to their televisions last week to watch Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever face off against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky in the season opener. While the game itself is enjoyable, fans really tuned in to watch what they had hoped would be the latest chapter of the rivalry between Clark and Reese. They got their wish. Clark committed what was deemed a flagrant foul on Reese, sparking what has wound up being a week-long debate among WNBA fans.
WNBA legend Lisa Leslie chimed in on Clark and Reese, and said what everyone's thinking about the two of them — on the court.
"When you look at what happened with Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark in college, you know it was like the explosion that we needed," Leslie said, via Locked On Women's Basketball. "We've been playing this style and grace of basketball for so many years, but there's some X-factors here... Caitlin and Angel, I think, just took it to another level."
Leslie believes that Clark's flagrant foul on Reese was exactly what the WNBA needed. As strange as that might sound to hear, she's spot on.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese draw the eyeballs the WNBA wants
The flagrant foul got people talking about the WNBA. It's that simple. Should Clark's foul have been deemed a flagrant? Maybe! Should it have been deemed a common foul? Maybe! The debate has fans talking about the WNBA, and that's what this league needs.
Clark and Reese are two of the league's most popular players. They'll get the casual fans to tune in one way or another. In games in which they match up against each other, the numbers are ridiculous. If fans tune into games they play in enough, they'll soon learn that the league is full of talented players.
Once fans figure out how much talent there is in this league outside of these two, they'll realize how fun the W is overall. They'll then make it a point to tune in more often.
The Clark vs. Reese rivalry is objectively good for the league, as long as things don't get hostile between the players — or the fans. It gets people to tune in, which is what the WNBA is missing. Clark and Reese can help the league get to a spot viewership-wise that it has never reached, and moments like the one from last week only help, as long as people actually talk about the basketball being played.