Angel Reese wants women’s basketball fans to know that she and her teammates have also played a role in the sport’s growing popularity.
The WNBA star addressed the Chicago Sky’s Saturday, June 1, loss against the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark’s impact on the league while speaking to reporters on Monday, June 3.
“I think so many people are watching women’s basketball right now. It all started from the national championship game, and I’ve been dealing with this for two years now and understand that, yeah, negative things have probably been said about me. But honestly, I’ll take that because look where women’s basketball is,” she said.
Angel Reese during the Chicago Sky’s game against the Indiana Fever on June 01, 2024.
Andy Lyons/Getty
“People are talking about women’s basketball that you’d never would think would be talking about women’s basketball. People are pulling up to games. We’ve got celebrities coming to games (and) sold-out arenas just because of one single game,” said Reese. “And just looking at that, I’ll take that role. I’ll take the bad guy role, and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates, and I know I’ll go down in history.”
“I’ll look back in 20 years and be like: ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person, it’s because of me too, and I want you to realize that,” continued Reese. “Like it’s just not cause of one person. A lot of us have done so much for this game.”
Caitlin Cark during a game on June 01, 2024.
Andy Lyons/Getty
Reese, who was the seventh pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft in April, was fined $1,000 for “failing to make herself available to the media for interviews” after Saturday’s game, the WNBA said in a statement, according to the Associated Press and The New York Times.
“In addition, the Sky organization has been fined $5,000 for failing to ensure that all players comply with WNBA media policies,” the league’s statement added, per the outlets. Along with Reese, her teammate Chennedy Carter’s foul given as a result of knocking Clark to the ground in the third quarter was also upgraded to a flagrant 1 violation.
Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter guards Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark on June 1, 2024.
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While speaking to reporters on Monday, Reese said she was taking “accountability.”
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“That was something on my behalf that I wasn’t able to do at the moment just because of the timeline of it but (I’m) making sure moving forward I’ll take time out for you guys,” she added.
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