Bring the Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry to the WNBA? Why the Chicago Sky should draft the LSU star

The best part of sports is a good, old-fashioned, spiteful, historical rivalry.

Michael Jordan’s Bulls reached the pinnacle, only after toppling Isiah Thomas’ Bad Boy Pistons. Duke and North Carolina make for two appointment viewing match ups per year.

The Celtics feud with the Lakers is on decade No. 5. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s legendary throw downs reverberate to the present day.

They make the game better. Why not, then, bring that to Chicago?

It’s a foregone conclusion the Indiana Fever are selecting Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Clark has declared for the draft, the Fever have the top pick in the lottery and, well, they’d be begging to get fired if they selected anyone other than a player who revolutionized college women’s basketball.

But what about the Chicago Sky at picks No. 3 and No. 8?

The Sky should select the other end of the rivalry that caught college basketball’s attention in LSU’s Angel Reese.

“She (Clark) just told me, continue to be a great player,” Reese said after LSU’s Elite Eight loss to Iowa. “I told her, continue to be a great player, as well, and keep elevating the game and go win it.”

If this comes to pass, Fever-Sky games this summer become appointment viewing. Then, the rivalry between Clark and Reese gets to continue on the professional level.

Then, the WNBA doesn’t have to make Bird-Magic analogies. The league will have Reese-Clark just three hours apart and have a chance to materialize a rivalry on the professional level that has captivated sports fans nationwide.

It makes sense, too, beyond the rivalry aspect.

The Sky have a need for a post presence next to Elizabeth Williams. She started 40 games for the Sky in 2023, averaging 5.8 rebounds per game, a career-high 1.3 steals per game and just under 10 points per game. A much-improved Alanna Smith has signed with the Minnesota Lynx, and now the Sky need a player who can provide a post presence.

Reese declared for the WNBA Draft on Wednesday. She’s officially on draft boards.

The Sky will have a decision to make. At No. 3 overall, they could go with a player like Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson, who can provide a scoring presence on the wing and guard multiple positions. That’s much needed in Chicago and the consensus is that Jackson will be the pick.

But, what about pick No. 8? A player like Kamila Cardoso can fit the need for a post presence, too.

But Reese has been the best player in the SEC for the last year. Cardoso is the best defensive player, but Reese has a rebounding skill that comes with a better offensive game.

Although Reese’s offensive game has to transfer to the next level, that’s something that can develop with time. The Sky finished ninth in the WNBA in team rebounds per game out of 12 teams. Losing Smith hurts that average. The Sky, in rebuilding mode, need pieces for the future.

Reese can be that piece. She’s a double-double machine with 74 double-doubles in two years at LSU.

Her scoring dipped in the 2023-2024 season, but that’s because LSU added Aneesah Morrow and Hailey Van Lith, two ball-dominant scoring players through the transfer portal. Reese’s offense might need some development at the next level, but she’s more than qualified to provide offense in a supporting role.

With the Sky, that would be Reese’s job: rebound first, score second.

Reese might not fall to No. 8, but if she does the Sky should bring her to Chicago. Not only is Reese a piece for the future, be she’d energize the Fever-Sky rivalry as a player who has been a part of a massive shift in women’s college basketball.

“It’s just great for the sport, just being able to be a part of history,” Reese said on April 1. “Playing against another great player, of course, is always amazing, and our viewership going up. And I’m sure so many different people watched us tonight.”

Reese was right. The LSU-Iowa Elite Eight game had a viewership of 12.3 million.

For reference, that viewership number outdrew: Every NBA game last season except Game 5 of the Finals; every college football game last season outside of the College Football Playoff, Ohio State-Michigan and the SEC Championship game; every MLB game last season.

The biggest stars attract the biggest number of viewers.

“The amount of stars we have in our game, especially the young stars we have in our game, I think this freshman class really put on a show this year,” Clark said on April 4. “They had me watching. They had everybody around the country watching.”

It’s only natural to think those stars should come to the biggest markets, too.

Say what you want about Reese’s game, that her offense needs development or she’ll need time to adjust to the WNBA, but she was the SEC Player of the Year for a reason. Just look at how her teammates revered her, too.

“Everybody can have their opinion on Angel Reese, but y’all don’t know her. Y’all don’t know Angel Reese. I know Angel Reese,” Flau’jae Johnson said on April 1. “I know the real Angel Reese, and the person I see every day is a strong person, is a caring, loving person. But the crown she wears is heavy. She’s the type of teammate that’s going to make you believe in yourself.”

That’s the kind of player the Sky needs.

Sparking a rivalry at the professional level is only logical. Why not see if they Sky can continue a fun thing that’s resulted in some of the best basketball we’ve ever seen?

If it garners more interest in the Sky’s season, then the franchise should be about the idea. Chicago had a player fans can grow attached to in Kahleah Copper, and she was traded to Phoenix this offseason.

Allowing Reese to grow as key part of the Sky’s rebuild, and giving her the chance to continue growing women’s basketball at the next level, is something the Sky should do.

“I’m happy to be here,” Reese said. “I’m happy to keep raising women’s sports, not just women’s basketball but women’s sports in general.”