Caitlin Clark was named the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, but both her and Angel Reese have been clear about their feelings on the award throughout the season
Angel Reese has already made feelings clear as Caitlin Clark wins WNBA Rookie of the Year
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark has been unanimously crowned the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, concluding a season-long rivalry with Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese.
Clark not only led her team with an impressive 19.2 points per game but also topped the entire WNBA in assists per game and three-pointers made during her remarkable rookie campaign.
Despite the media’s focus on the Rookie of the Year competition, both players have openly dismissed its significance to them – with Angel Reese speaking candidly about the situation.
“We don’t either care about the Rookie of the Year but you guys, I think you guys have made the big thing. We haven’t,” Reese expressed to journalists in late August. “We both want to win.”
“We’ve been wanting to win and that’s what we’ve done in our collegiate career,” she added. “We played against each other last year and the year before in the March Madness tournament. So we’re just trying to do whatever it takes to win. That’s what’s important right now.”
Reese remained a strong contender for the Rookie of the Year title until opting for surgery on her injured wrist in early September. She managed to average 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game for the Sky.
She also set a new league record by securing her 418th rebound of the season against the Minnesota Lynx. However, 2024 WNBA MVP A’Ja Wilson would later surpass this milestone following Reese’s injury.
The Sky rookie’s perspective was reinforced by Clark, who remarked in August: “You don’t wake up and think about individual awards,” also adding, “I know that’s what all of you think we do. I know we don’t. That’s what everybody wants to make this about.”
“People presume we’re fixated on personal achievements; its not like that for us,” Clark stated. “Both of our teams are competing for playoff spots, that’s our main focus. That’s a selfish thing to just care about an individual award. And she would give you the same exact answer. I’m sure she has given you the same exact answer.”
Additionally, Clark expressed her excitement about being in contention for Rookie of the Year after her seventh pick in the draft: “My whole thing was like, when I got drafted No. 7,” she noted on her podcast “Unapologetically Angel.”
suggesting, “So I’m like, cool, the pressure is not even on me because I’m drafted seven, so the pressure shouldn’t be up there.”
Clark did have trouble in her first playoff appearance on Sunday when facing the Connecticut Sun, as she put forth a 4/17 shooting performance and managed only 11 points in a hefty 93-69 defeat. With this setback, the Fever need to secure a victory away this Wednesday to trigger a tiebreaker match at Indiana’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Following Reese’s sidelining with an injury, the Chicago Sky fell dramatically in the standings, dropping eight out of their final ten matches and wrapped up as the ninth seed in the league.
