Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese debate heats up as Fever star’s decision may pay off

Caitlin Clark will start the 2025 WNBA season after an offseason of rest while Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese will compete fresh off winning the Unrivaled championship

A viral post on X last week highlighted the WNBA players with the most followers on Instagram, claiming Chicago Sky star Angel Reese was the “face of the league” for having the highest tally with 4.8 million.

Reese could well be the most popular player in the league, having finished second in the league’s 2024 Rookie of the Year vote after recording the second-most rebounds in a single WNBA campaign.

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark ranked second behind Reese with 3.1 million, followed by Paige Bueckers with 2.3 million, Sabriana Ionescu with 1.4 million, and A’ja Wilson with 1.3 million. Clark is often compared to Reese as the league’s most popular player, thanks in part to their rivalry in college.

Reese strengthened her status in the basketball world by capturing the Defensive Player of the Year award with Rose BC in the upstart Unrivaled league. Clark, meanwhile, opted to rest after a frantic 2024 calendar year.

The Fever star was selected first overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft just a week after losing the 2024 NCAA National Championship game to South Carolina. She immediately hit the ground running, averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and a league-leading 8.4 assists to help lead Indiana to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Clark turned down a significant offer from Unrivaled — one offering close to a million dollars and with ownership equity — in favor of resting ahead of her sophomore campaign.

Clark has attended a slew of basketball games this offseason as she takes a break from playing(Image: Getty Images)

She has the luxury to make such a decision: Clark has a cadre of sponsorships paying her seven figures, including an eight-year, $28 million deal with Nike. “So you basically go home for one day and pack up your whole life and then move to a new city, the city that you get drafted to,” Clark told Elle on the hectic transition from collegiate to professional level. “So I think it’s just the adjustment period that you have.”

Clark added: “I think the biggest difference is just how fast you have to move on and change from being a college student, a college athlete, and then you’re like a professional athlete and there’s a lot that comes with that too.

Clark will be hoping her decision to rest up pays off when the WNBA returns. Both Clark and Reese earned under $75,000 in their breakout rookie seasons. Fortunately for the Sky star, her Rose BC were the Unrivaled league champions and netted her an extra $50,000. “50K NEED DATTTTT,” she tweeted after the victory, which she missed with injury.

“I just hope y’all know the WNBA don’t pay my bills at alI,” Reese said on an Instagram Live video last fall. “I don’t even think that pays one of my bills. I’m living beyond my means.”

The WNBA is set to return on Friday, May 16 with a trio of contests: Atlanta Dream vs Washington Mystics, Minnesota Lynx vs Dallas Wings, and Los Angeles Sparks vs Golden State Valkyries (the league’s expansion team)