Indiana Fever On SI

Fever vs Sky: A One-Sided Rivalry Since Caitlin Clark's WNBA Debut

Fueled by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky have become one of the most pronounced rivalries in the WNBA. But while the drama has come in bunches, the actual on-court results tell a different tale.
Lou Orlando|
Jun 7, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) applauds her teammates during the first half of a WNBA game against the Chicago Sky at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Jun 7, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) applauds her teammates during the first half of a WNBA game against the Chicago Sky at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

In the modern landscape of the WNBA, the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky have one of the most prominent rivalries, bolstered by each team's respective superstar Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the two of whom share a competitive history dating back to their collegiate days.

While the New York Liberty may stake a claim in two of the league's best rivalries, after battles in the finals with the Las Vegas Aces and Minnesota Lynx, the spectacle that comes from two of the game's biggest personas going head-to-head makes for a highly-anticipated night every time the Fever and Sky meet.

But while the squads often face off on in marquee national television matchups, as they did Saturday night in front of a well-attended crowd at the United Center, it's hard to overlook a striking disparity in the on-court results.

Since Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese debuted last season, reigniting a league rivalry with roots that date back to the early 2010s, the Fever are 5-1 against the Sky.

It started off competitive enough.

The first meeting between Clark and Reese in the WNBA saw Indiana edge Chicago 71-70 in June of 2024. Clark and Reese were the focal points leading in, but neither stole the show -- Clark finished with 11 points and 6 assists while Reese had 8 points and 13 rebounds.

The Fever took their next game against Chicago as well, an 8-point victory led by 23 from Clark, but Reese and the Sky quickly struck back just seven days later with an 88-87 win. Reese was a force with 25 points and 16 rebounds, giving the Sky a chance to even up the season series in their final regular season bout at the end of August.

They would fail to do so. Indiana would take three of four in the season series, prevailing by 19 points in the finale as part of a second-half surge that earned them the No. 6 seed in the 2024 playoffs. The Sky, meanwhile, closed the season on the outside looking in, finishing 2024 with a 13-27 record, the third-worst in the WNBA.

Chicago's lone win in the Clark-Reese era, a June 23, 2024 duel at Wintrust Arena, would mark the last time that the Sky were truly competitive in the heavily-featured rivalry.

Indiana has only built off the 19-point victory that capped off the Fever-Sky series in 2024, dominating Chicago in both meetings thus far in 2025.

After a 35-point victory in the 2025 season opener, a Fever squad missing Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and head coach Stephanie White dismantled a Sky team that lost Courtney Vandersloot to injury early in the first quarter, celebrating a 27-point win.

The Fever have beaten the Sky by a combined 62 points in their two 2025 matches, holding Chicago's offense to historic lows.

The Fever are the only team to hold the Sky under 60 points this season -- and they've done so twice.

Chicago's 52 points on Saturday night is their lowest output since 2011. For Indiana meanwhile, it's the fewest points they've allowed since 2015, a year in which they reached the WNBA Finals as noted by Fever radio play-by-play announcer John Nolan.

Reese was quiet on Saturday, limited to just 4 points on 2-of-7 shooting. She managed to make an impact on the boards, pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds, but faded into the background on the offensive end.

A star underperforming in a big game will naturally fall under the spotlight, but it's particularly pronounced in this one, a reignited rivalry almost entirely founded upon two players.

With Clark at Iowa and Reese at LSU, the two met on the national stage multiple times during their collegiate careers, setting the record for the most-watched women's college basketball game multiple times (before Iowa's matchup with South Carolina in the 2024 title game established the current mark).

Reese took down Clark in the 2023 championship game. Clark responded in 2024 with a 41-point outing, leading Iowa to a victory over LSU in the Elite Eight as part of a run that ended with a loss in the aforementioned championship game against the Gamecocks.

Before the two had even stepped foot in the WNBA, they had one of the most publicized and marketable head-to-head rivalries in the current sports landscape. Together, they've made Fever-Sky fall under the billing of appointment television.

It's not entirely unusual for two stars to fuel a rivalry between teams, particularly in basketball.

Bill Russell versus Wilt Chamberlain. LeBron James versus Steph Curry. Sue Bird vs Diana Taurasi. A clash of stars often breeds a high competitive edge and a multitude of high intensity battles.

The most common comparison would have to go to the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry that electrified the basketball world in the 1980s and added fire to the NBA's most prestigious rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

Mirroring origins at the collegiate level as well as charged racial commentary, Johnson-Bird comes closest to capturing the energy and attention surrounding Clark and Reese.

But what separates that and the rest of these personal rivalries from Clark-Reese is a simple disparity in level of contention.

Russell-Chamberlain, James-Curry, and Johnson-Bird all met numerous times in the finals. Bird and Taurasi met multiple times in the playoffs, while both teams were perennially contenders for the title in the very same era.

Indiana and Chicago (and Clark and Reese), from a results standpoint, have not proven to be true peers.

A strong offseason has many pundits circling the Fever as a playoff contender, and perhaps even a potential candidate to compete for the title.

The Sky, meanwhile, are struggling out the gates and have yet to see sophomore leaps from Reese and 2024 No. 3 overall pick Kamilla Cardoso. Chicago holds the third-worst record in the league at 2-5 with both wins coming against the last-place Dallas Wings.

The gap between the Fever and Sky has been evident this season. And so has the ever widening gap between Clark and Reese.

Both saw success in college. Clark was named the Naismith Women's College Basketball Player of the Year in 2023 and 2024, leading the nation in scoring in three of four years and graduating as all-time leading scorer in D1 women's basketball. Reese celebrated an NCAA championship, was a two-time All-American, and set an NCAA single season record with 34 double-doubles.

In the WNBA, however, Clark has continued to separate herself in the comparison, leaving Reese behind when it comes to performance on the court.

Clark finished 4th in MVP voting after a strong rookie season, posting 19.2 PPG and leading the league with 8.4 AST.

Clark and Reese were the only two players to receive Rookie of the Year votes, but it wasn't particularly close. Clark received 66 of a possible 67 points in the voting, taking home the award in a landslide.

Reese has proven herself a force on the boards, leading the WNBA with 13.1 per game in 2024, but her offensive play has left much to be desired, shooting under 40% from the field in her rookie campaign.

While the rebounding has continued to be a strength into her second year, the FG% has dipped down to 30.9% through seven games with the All-Star averaging just 9.1 PPG.

Clark, on the other hand, has enjoyed a strong start to the 2025 season after entering the year as an MVP favorite, averaging 19.0 PPG and over 9 assists in four games prior to her left quad injury.

So while the two draw eyeballs together, Reese isn't in the same stratosphere as Clark from an on-court standpoint, as the latter has quickly established herself as one of the best players in the WNBA following her record-setting college tenure.

That doesn't necessarily equate to a lack of drama and excitement. Clark and Reese managed to generate weeks of headlines with a physical interaction in a 35-point Fever blowout win. The two being young, recognizable stars with a personal history will continue to make each meeting interesting.

Johnson and Bird was an electric matchup, even before their storied battles in the NBA Finals. But it was those battles that elevated not just their own rivalry, but the Celtics-Lakers rivalry to unparalleled heights.

Clark and Reese are more than capable of stoking the fire for every Fever-Sky matchup. But until Chicago and Reese can prove themselves to be in Indiana and Clark's class, there will be a level of intensity that the rivalry cannot attain.

Not that Fever fans are complaining about the results.

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Lou Orlando
LOU ORLANDO

Lou Orlando is a Fordham University alum, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. At Rose Hill, he covered women's basketball for the university newspaper, the Fordham Ram. In addition to calling games on 90.7 FM. The Brooklyn native enjoys bagels and thinking about random early-2010s athletes, that is when he isn't penning stories for Women's Fastbreak and Indiana Fever On SI.

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