Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark have been pitted against each other for as long as they can remember.

It started on the AAU circuit before a record-breaking 2023 NCAA Championship game between Reese’s LSU Tigers and Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes put both on the national map.

The 6ft 3in Reese was largely vilified for taunting sharpshooter Clark with a ‘you can’t see me’ motion and a gesture that pointed towards her championship ring finger.

The intense, Larry Bird-Magic Johnson esque rivalry continued when they were part of the same 2024 WNBA Draft class, and carried on throughout their pro debut seasons as they wrestled for Rookie of the Year honors — an award that ultimately went to Clark.

While fans have hyped up their apparent beef, Chicago Sky forward Reese recently emphasized there are no hard feelings between her and the Indiana Fever star.

“I think it’s just competition,” Reese told Complex when asked whether there’s any genuine ill-will between her Clark. “It has been competition since college… I’ve been playing against Caitlin since we were probably in eighth or ninth grade… and then finally being able to compete at the National Championship.

“People don’t know the legacy of us being able to play against each other for a really long time.

“Obviously social media is going to pit two women against each other and I think that it’s something that’s been negative but also positive. It shines light on women’s basketball so I’ll take that, being the person that gets the hate, but at the end of the day I know I’m the person that’s growing basketball and helping women’s basketball.”

Clark and Reese went head-to-head four times during their rookie WNBA seasons, with the Fever winning three of them.

When Clark played Reese, she averaged 21 points, seven rebounds, and ten assists, while Reese averaged 14 points, 13 rebounds, and two assists in their head-to-head battles.

Scoring phenom Clark and double-double machine Reese, who played together in the WNBA All-Star game, smashed all sorts of records as they catapulted women’s basketball to new heights in 2024.

Tickets and merchandise sales went through the roof, while TV viewership and social media engagement equally skyrocketed.

While there’s no bad blood between the WNBA phenoms, fans have sometimes overstepped the mark in unsavoury ways.

Reese revealed Clark’s rabid fanbase have made inappropriate AI images of her and even sent her death threats.

“Caitlin is an amazing player and I’ve always thought she was an amazing player,” Reese said during her podcast, Unapologetically Angel.

“We’ve been playing each other since high school. So I think it’s really just the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, and now the Indiana fans that… ride for her. And I respect that, respectfully.

“But sometimes it’s very disrespectful,” Reese continued. “I think there’s a lot of racism when it comes to it. And I don’t believe [Caitlin] stands on any of that. But when it comes to death threats… like, I’m talking about people have come down to my address, follow me home… it has come down to that.”

Reese added: “Multiple occasions, people have made AI pictures of me, like naked. Literally. They have sent it to my family members. My family members are like… uncles are sending it to me like ‘Are you naked on Instagram?’ It sucks to see that, and it’s really hard that I have to go through that. And now seeing other players even having to go through that.”

However, the 22-year-old was ultimately reluctant to pin it solely on Clark’s fans, insisting it’s a much wider issue among all fans of the sport.

“I don’t think it’s just her fans. I think it’s fans in general,” Reese told Complex. “People don’t realize at the end of the day, we’re human. You guys watch us. And knowing that, it’s just basketball. I promise you, it’s just basketball. I don’t have any hard feelings towards her, she doesn’t have any hard feelings towards me.

“But it gets crazy sometimes,” she added.

Both the Fever and Sky have new head coaches heading into 2025 and will look to build around Clark and Reese to improve on last season’s standings.

Chicago missed the playoffs last season, finishing in 10th place with a 13–27 record, while the Fever were eliminated from the postseason by the Connecticut Sun in Game 2 of their first-round series.

While Clark has been enjoying her other favorite sport, golf, Reese is gearing up to play in new 3×3 women’s pro basketball league, Unrivaled.

Reese has already committed to the league, which offers participants equity and features 36 WNBA players on six different teams.

The league tips off in January in Miami and runs for eight weeks, including the playoffs, during the WNBA offseason.

After much speculation, Clark decided against playing, instead choosing to rest up and prepare for her sophomore season — a move widely lauded by fans.