Mike Vorel: Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry is complicated but good for WNBA | Professional/National Sports | wenatcheeworld.com

Like many actual WNBA fans, Elle Duncan is sick of the “disingenuous” talking points surrounding Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

The Indiana Fever opened their 2025 season with a blowout win over the Chicago Sky. Clark posted a triple-double, but the conversation revolved around her flagrant foul on Reese. While both second-year stars quickly wanted to move on from the play, most observers used the incident to keep manufacturing a feud.

Duncan’s employer, ESPN, has frequently magnified WNBA drama. On The Right Time with Bomani Jones, the SportsCenter anchor lamented the discourse showing no progress early in the new campaign.

“We are not getting anywhere at this point. We’re just not,” Duncan said. “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 s**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.”

Duncan added that Clark’s supposed supporters are doing her a disservice by diverting the conversation from basketball.

“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,” Duncan continued. “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 [Cunningham] is, and how they are actually contending.”

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 21: Elle Duncan attends the 45th Annual Sports Emmy Awards at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 21, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by John Nacion/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 21: Elle Duncan attends the 45th Annual Sports Emmy Awards at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 21, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by John Nacion/WireImage)

John Nacion/Getty Images

Jones called WNBA fans “really online,” which is “very bad for everybody.” Duncan responded that she’s “tired” of the current environment.

The Fever have lost two of their last three games, narrowly falling 90-88 to the defending champion New York Liberty on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Sky will seek their first win of the season against the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday night.

Fans can only hope the discourse centers more around the actual action when the Sky and Fever meet again on Saturday, June 7.