Sky rookie Angel Reese celebrates sinking a half-court shot after practice for the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. (0:39)
PHOENIX — For 40 minutes on Saturday, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese will put aside their rivalry to join forces on Team WNBA in the league’s All-Star Game in Phoenix against the United States Women’s National Team.
In a weekend when the stars of women’s basketball have congregated in the blistering heat of Arizona, the unification of Clark and Reese has become a storyline unto itself. And they know it.
“That’s what everybody wants to see,” Reese said Friday.
The two, who played against each other in the 2023 Women’s NCAA tournament national championship game when Clark was at Iowa and Reese was at LSU, and then three times in the first half of the WNBA season, have momentarily embraced being teammates. They spent time working on a pick-and-roll together during Friday morning’s practice.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Reese said. “Everybody can wear their ‘Get Along’ shirts together for one day, at least. So, I know a lot of people are going to come and watch us, to see all of us, but there’s a lot of talent within both rosters of the teams, so they’re in for a good one.”
Clark thinks sharing a court with Reese will be “fun” and said it’ll be “really great” to share the All-Star experience with Reese as rookies.
Clark, who led all players in All-Star Game voting, believes the attention she and Reese, who finished fifth in voting, are bringing to women’s basketball will continue and will also help grow the game.
Their impact was evident in the All-Star voting. Both exceeded 380,000 votes. Last season, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson was the top vote-getter but received fewer than 100,000 votes.
While Clark and Reese will play in the All-Star Game, both declined invitations to participate in Friday night’s skills competition — Clark in the 3-point contest and Reese in the skills challenge.
Reese said she turned down the invitation so she could “enjoy” her first All-Star Game and just watch — at least for her first year, she said. Reese plans to spend part of her month-long Olympic break in Paris, even though she’s not on the national team, for a vacation. She’s planning on fitting in some workouts and vintage shopping.
Clark cited rest as her reason for not participating in the 3-point contest.
“I’ve been playing basketball for a year straight,” Clark said. “It’s not an easy thing to just show up to and shoot off of a rack. It’s not something I’ve ever done before. It’s not something I’ve had a lot of time to practice. I’ve been focusing on helping my team win games, so I think just enjoying this break, I think there’s going to be plenty of opportunities for me to do that at some point, but at the same time, like the field of shooters that we have in the competition are really good. They’re all like near 40% shooters, so I’m excited for them.
“I’ll be there supporting them and it’ll be fun. But, yeah, I mean, I think the thing that’s best for me is just, like, I need a break and I need to take some time to myself to enjoy what I want to do. And, at times, that can be tough, being in the position that I’m in.”
Even though Clark said her goal and dream was to play on the Olympic team, she admitted that getting a four-week break will be “very beneficial.” She also plans on going on vacation and taking “some time to breathe.”
It won’t be easy, Clark, who described herself as someone “that wants to continue to work and continue to play” said.
“I probably will feel a little bit uncomfortable, like not touching the basketball for a week or so,” Clark said. “But I know that’s going to be the healthiest thing for myself and I think just relax, like, turn my phone off, get away from everything and really enjoy it because, obviously, this past year has been super crazy.
“It’s something I’m very fortunate for, as well. Like, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Although she’s admittedly tired, Clark put some perspective on her exhaustion.
“I mean like, sure, I’m tired, but at the same time, there’s so many people that would kill to be in my shoes and so many people that are going through so much worse in their lives,” Clark said. “Like, I’m a professional basketball player, my life is pretty, pretty good, so I have no complaints. And if I’m going to be tired, I’ll be tired. Like, I’ll take that every single day of the week. So, this break will definitely be nice though.”
Part of why she knows she has to put down the ball is to absorb and reflect on everything that has happened to her over the past year.
“It goes so fast and you don’t want to miss any of the moments,” Clark said. “It’s crazy. It feels like yesterday I was just in college and now I’m at my first All-Star Game, so just reflect back on everything and enjoy it and get some time to reset and then come back and be ready to go for the second half.”