CAITLIN CLARK STANDS WITH ANGEL REESE

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Caitlin Clark Stands With Angel Reese, Backs WNBA Investigation Into Racist Abuse

The WNBA has opened an investigation after reports that fans directed racist abuse at Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese during Saturday’s game against the Indiana Fever. The league said it “strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms,” and confirmed that the Fever are helping with the investigation.

Caitlin Clark: “There’s no place for that in our game”

Indi­ana Fever rook­ie Caitlin Clark has spo­ken up in sup­port of the league’s inves­ti­ga­tion. Speak­ing to reporters after prac­tice on Mon­day, Clark said, “There’s no place for that in our game, there’s no place for that in soci­ety. We want every per­son who comes into our are­na, whether it’s a play­er or a fan, to have a great expe­ri­ence.”

She added, “I appre­ci­ate the league tak­ing this seri­ous­ly, and I’m proud that the Fever have been involved from the start. The inves­ti­ga­tion is in their hands now, and we trust them to take the right steps if any­thing is con­firmed.”

What Hap­pened on the Court

The moment that drew atten­tion came in the third quar­ter, with just under five min­utes left. Clark hit Reese’s right arm hard as she drove to the bas­ket, send­ing Reese to the floor. Reese quick­ly got to her feet and looked ready to con­front Clark, but Indiana’s Aliyah Boston stepped in before it esca­lat­ed. Clark walked away dur­ing the exchange.

Clark’s foul was upgrad­ed to a fla­grant 1. Both Reese and Boston received tech­ni­cal fouls. After the game, the play­ers played down the inci­dent. It’s still unclear whether the alleged racial slurs from the crowd were con­nect­ed to this par­tic­u­lar moment.

Clark and Reese: Rivals, Not Ene­mies

Though much has been made of their rival­ry since col­lege — espe­cial­ly after the 2023 NCAA women’s cham­pi­onship game — both Clark and Reese have made an effort to move past the media hype. They’re com­peti­tors, not ene­mies.

In Saturday’s sea­son open­er, Clark post­ed a triple-dou­ble with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Fever won 93–58. Reese record­ed 12 points and 17 rebounds. The teams will meet three more times this sea­son.

Our Posi­tion: Racism Has No Place in Sports

At Ath­letes for Free­dom, we firm­ly believe that racism and dis­crim­i­na­tion have no place in sports or any­where else. Every ath­lete deserves to com­pete and per­form with­out fear of abuse. That includes on the court, in the stands, and online.

We stand with Angel Reese and with any ath­lete who faces hate or dis­crim­i­na­tion. And we’ll keep push­ing for sports to be a space where fair­ness, respect, and inclu­sion are the base­line — not the excep­tion.