Breanna Stewart Weighs in on Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese Rivalry
With WNBA stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese sharing the court for Team USA during the FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament this week, the discourse about their rivalry has reignited.
Especially because some actions and decisions the two have made during Team USA's first two games, such as Reese not passing to Clark on an outlet pass and instead dribbling the ball to herself, have gone viral.
Breanna Stewart Shares Take On Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Dynamic
Former NFL player turned media personality Ryan Clark and New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart spoke about the dynamic and discourse around these two stars during a March 13 episode of "The Pivot" podcast.
Ryan Clark asked Stewart, "Isn't some of the toxicity good, though? Because... men are way pettier than women, right? Y'all got this 'Let's stick together' thing down way better than we do. You can separate us easy, you tell this one he can make more if he leave this one behind, they gonna leave you behind. There has always been that level... of competition, that level of, 'We've got to pick one' is what makes fans. It's what makes the game.
"Don't you think in a way, it's good that the WNBA is getting to the point where they're building enough stars, where people are like, 'I'm drawing my line in the sand with her. And I'm gonna watch her every time, because I want more people to watch her game than watch her game,'" Clark continued.
Stewart responded by saying, "Sometimes players, we're having a hard time adjusting to having all this good energy, but also you have some negative energy on social media and other stuff like that. But if we want to be in this class that we haven't been in, or this space that we haven't been before, as well as you take the good, you need to be able to take the bad.
"Because whenever they're going in the negative direction, like [with] LeBron, you see the hate, right? But you also know people love him," Stewart continued. "But you have to be able to take both. If we want to be in this space where we're getting all the things we want, you have to be able to take both. And that's just the way it is. And don't let it rattle you.
"So, I think that Angel, Caitlin, those two especially, they don't let it rattle them. They know that they're really elevating the game, and not everybody's going to love them, not everybody's going to hate them," Stewart concluded.
“Angel, Caitlin… They don’t let it rattle them” - @breannastewart
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) March 14, 2026
WNBA basketball fandom has gotten more toxic with the arrival of Angel Reese & Caitlin Clark. NBA rivalries have driven the men’s game’s popularity, but where there’s positive the negative will follow. You have… pic.twitter.com/F9MKYPVdEP
Stewart's take on this is wise.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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