Caitlin Clark against Angel Reese has all the makings of a rivalry – except the bigger star’s willingness to call it that.
The two WNBA rookies are about to meet at 4 p.m. on Sunday for the third team as pros, the fourth time in the last three months and the fifth time in the last 15 months, dating to when Reese led LSU past Clark’s Iowa team in the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.
“I’m pretty sure that the only people who view this as a rivalry is all of you,” Clark told reporters after her Indiana Fever beat the Atlanta Dream on Friday night. ‘For us, it’s just a game of basketball. That’s what it is. If it’s going to help move the game forward then absolutely. That’s amazing. That’s what it should be. People can talk about it.”
People definitely are talking about it as ticket prices surge to record highs.
Especially after Reese was assessed a flagrant foul for hitting Clark in the head and knocking her to the ground while going for a blocked shot when the Sky faced the Fever last week.
Reese said after the game that Clark gets a “special whistle” compared to other players.
In the first Fever-Sky game of the season, Clark was hip-checked to the ground by Sky forward Chennedy Carter. Reese was shown on the bench cheering the dirty play by her teammate.
The Fever (7-10) are 2-0 against the Sky (5-9) entering the third matchup.
‘We’re excited,” Clark said. “We have to wipe this (win against Atlanta), learn from it. We travel, get there, practice, prep and then play [Sunday] at 4 p.m. Like I said, if that’s what is going to help the game move forward then absolutely [call it a rivalry].”
TickPick, a second-hand marketplace, declared Clark vs. Reese III to be the most expensive WNBA ticket of all-time.
As of Friday, the average purchase price of the game was $271, which is 207 percent higher than the Sky’s home average purchase price of $88 this season, per Tick Pick. Ticket prices ranged from $249 to $9,131.
The game will be played at 10,387-seat Wintrust Arena in Chicago because the 23,129-seat United Center is booked for a concert by rapper Russ.
“I think the two prior matchups lived up to what everyone was expecting,” said Clark, who noted she wished the game was at the larger venue. “Just really great basketball games, honestly.”