The WNBA named Caitlin Clark the league's Rookie of the Year for 2024, but it wasn't a unanimous decision.
Despite the fact that Clark broke the WNBA's single-season assist record, rookie scoring record and became the first rookie in history to record a triple-double, only 66 of the 67 voters chose her to win the award. The other voter chose Chicago Sky rookie and Clark's longtime rival Angel Reese.
Reese was a dark horse contender for the award behind Clark for the first few months of the season. However, her rookie campaign was cut short after having season-ending surgery for her wrist after suffering an injury on Sept. 6.
Clark widened her lead in nearly every statistical category in the weeks prior to and after Reese's season ended. On top of that, she led the Indiana Fever to the playoffs for the first time in eight years as the team's leading scorer.
Reese was only the third-leading scorer on a Chicago Sky team that finished the season with a 13-27 record, the third-worst in the league, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
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The one statistic where Reese held an edge over Clark was in terms of rebounds, with more than twice as many rebounds per game at 13.1, compared to Clark's 5.7. Reese has a natural height advantage at 6-foot-3, compared to Clark at 6-foot-0.
But Clark held advantages in terms of points with 19.2 to Reese's 13.6 per game, assists with 8.4 to Reese's 1.9 and even blocks with 0.7 to Reese's 0.5, despite the height disadvantage.
Like Clark, Reese also broke a landmark WNBA single-season record during her rookie year, breaking the single-season record for rebounds during a game against the Minnesota Lynx on Sept. 2 with 418 on the year. But unlike Clark, Reese did not hold that record by the end of the season. After Reese's season-ending surgery, MVP A'ja Wilson broke Reese's record in the final week of the season, when Wilson recorded her 419th rebound.
However, despite the statistical discrepancies between Clark and Reese, the Sky rookie had her passionate supporters this year who argued her case over Clark.
Former NBA All-Star Joakim Noah, who was a 6-foot-11 center who also specialized in rebounding and dominating in the paint, told Fox News Digital that he would vote for Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese over Clark for Rookie of the Year if he had a say, during an interview at NBA Night at the Emirates Suite at the U.S. Open in early September.
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"I would say Angel Reese," Noah said. "When I look at her play, she reminds me a lot of myself."
In head-to-head matchups this year, the Fever beat the Sky three out of four times. In two of those matchups, Reese put up more points than Clark while putting up more rebounds than Clark in all four meetings. Clark put up more assists in all four meetings.
Reese’s height advantage over Clark has resulted in the Sky rookie having stronger finishes in the paint, and a few very physical blocks and block attempts. Some instances have also resulted in some hard fouls being called against Reese for her defense on Clark. In a game on June 16, Clark was going in for a layup, and Reese didn’t quite have the wingspan to block the shot, but got a flagrant 1 when she hit Clark in the head from above instead.
Reese's reputation and personality, compared to Clark, have also garnered a passionate following, albeit a smaller one than Clark's when accounting for attendance and TV viewership figures.
Rutgers freshman men's basketball player Ace Bailey, the No. 3-ranked recruit in the nation this year, told Fox News Digital at his team's media day on Sept. 24 that he would choose to pursue Reese for advice instead of Clark if he could only talk to one big women’s basketball star.
"I would probably talk to Angel Reese, her competitiveness for sure, what keeps her driving," Bailey said.
Reese's and Clark's reputations, fan bases and longstanding rivalry have been tied to their respective races dating back to their most famous meeting in the 2023 NCAA women's national championship game. Reese and LSU defeated Clark and Iowa, and Reese pointed to her finger to boast in a viral moment that garnered intense backlash and support.
Reese said it was a moment that "changed her life forever," during the first episode of her podcast "Unapolagetically Angel" when she accused Clark's fans of racism, death threats and even sending explicit AI images of her to her family members.
"I think it's really just the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, that are really just, they ride for her, and I respect that, respectfully. But sometimes it's very disrespectful. I think there's a lot of racism when it comes to it," Reese said.
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