The rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has pushed the WNBA’s viewership to unprecedented heights.
The The Indiana Fever’s 91-83 win over the Chicago Sky on Sunday was the league’s most-watched game in more than two decades, CBS announced Tuesday.
The highly anticipated matchup averaged 2.25 million viewers, a 225% increase over an average match last season.
Viewership peaked at 3 million households, making the showdown the most watched game in 23 years.
It was also the most-streamed WNBA game ever on Paramount+ in terms of households, minutes and average minute audience.
The Fever’s 91-83 win over the Sky was the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years
The rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has pushed viewership to new heights
Clark and Indiana won again in their second meeting with the Sky this season, thanks to 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds from their rookie sensation.
However, the game was overshadowed by an incident in the third quarter, when Reese hit Clark in the head as the Iowa alum was leaping to the basket.
The ball had clearly already gone past the former LSU player, who continued to hit Clark in the head with her forearm.
ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith wasn’t against WNBA officials calling Reese a flagrant 1 for her foul on Clark, but he does think the officials are keeping an eye on the Chicago star.
“I will say this: It was a basketball game,” Smith said Monday during ESPN’s First Take.
Reese was whistled for a flagrant foul on Clark during Sunday’s matinee in Indiana
The pair’s rivalry dates back to college, specifically the 2023 NCAA women’s title game
‘Yes, Angel Reese is right about that. But what they yelled at her in terms of upgrading to a flagrant 1 is exactly what they would have done in the NBA… She may be angry about it, but it’s a blow to the head and that’s what they do at this day and age. The call is correct.’
Many commentators have tried to draw a comparison between the Reese-Clark rivalry and Larry Bird’s long-running competition with Magic Johnson in the 1980s.
While both rivalries began in college (the 2023 women’s NCAA title game for Reese-Clark and the 1979 men’s championship for Magic-Bird) before moving on to the pros, Smith thinks the comparison is only slightly exaggerated.
While the Celtics’ Bird and Lakers’ Johnson were similar players, Reese is a power forward and Clark is a sharp-shooting guard and developing distributor.
“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar doesn’t compete with Larry Bird as much as Magic Johnson competes with Larry Bird,” Smith said, before offering up the New York Liberty’s All-Star guard as a better rivalry for the Fever rookie.
‘If [Sabrina] Ionescu and Caitlin Clark went at each other, which is a rivalry I would like to cherish because their games are similar.”