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There was a hope that by the 2025 WNBA season, the sports media landscape would have gotten the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese narratives out of its system and moved into a more positive space.
A few games into the season, those hopes are effectively dead.
Clark’s flagrant foul on Reese in the Fever-Sky game last weekend set off a sports media feud that remains hard to describe. At the very least, it was clear that the sports media and social media worlds have learned nothing from last season and a solution doesn’t appear imminent.
Bomani & Elle are tired of how the WNBA’s being covered lately 😕
“Caitlin Clark would love for you to focus on the basketball part … The Fever are real contenders.” pic.twitter.com/kgyTck3hc5
— The Right Time with Bomani Jones (@righttimebomani) May 23, 2025
“We are not getting anywhere at this point. We’re just not,” said ESPN’s Elle Duncan on The Right Time with Bomani Jones. “This is a very disingenuous space right now. Nobody is really here to listen to anybody else’s perspective. If LeBron James posts that Caitlin Clark is his favorite player, then he’s getting sh*t for not protecting Black women. And if you post that Angel Reese is your favorite player, then you’re trying to stifle Caitlin Clark’s greatness. It’s just unreal.
“I’m not out here trying to sell you, ‘Let’s pivot away from Caitlin Clark and talk about…’ I am just saying Caitlin Clark herself would love for you to focus on the basketball part of it because the Fever this year, guys, are real contenders. And I know that as much as she understands she is an otherworldly star, she would love for you to make it more about the basketball and how well Aliyah Boston is doing and how well Kelsey Mitchell is doing, and what a great piece Sophie is, and how they are actually contending.”
Host Bomani Jones agreed with Duncan’s assessment of the Fever, saying they look like a more cohesive unit in Clark’s sophomore season. He added that one of the problems the WNBA faces with its narrative challenges is that fans on social media can be too intense, adding to the stark demarcation lines between Clark and Reese supporters.
“I got to find a way to get into this that’s not the internet,” said Jones. “And I think that’s a WNBA problem, though, is that WNBA per capita, is really online. Really, really, really online, and it is very bad for everybody.”
“When it comes to the constant discourse, Bo, I’m John Coffey, bro. I’m tired, boss,” added Duncan with a clutch Green Mile reference.
