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Ranking Chicago Sky's Angel Reese Barbie nicknames: which is No. 1?

Chi-Town Barbie has dazzled the WNBA with her on-court prowess, social media presence, and fashion domination. But which Barbie is the best Angel Reese Barbie?

Alan Goldsher

Chi-Town Barbie. Or Bayou Barbie. Or League Barbie.
Chi-Town Barbie. Or Bayou Barbie. Or League Barbie. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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When the WNBA season tipped off, would you have thought that Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark would be the league’s second-most intriguing rookie?

Yeah, we didn’t either. But then along came Angel Reese.

Charismatic, media-savvy, and refreshingly candid, the Chicago Sky forward has dominated both the hardwood and the interwebs, as much if not more so than her highly-touted rival-not-rival.

Sure, the rookies have different roles—generally speaking, Reese prowls the paint while Clark roams the perimeter—but the numbers tell us they’re equally vital to their teams: Clark is winning the scoring battle 16.1 to 14.1 and Reese leads the board wars 11.9 to 6.0, while Clark is dishing 7.4 dimes to Reese’s 1.9. Their quality of play is the primary reason why Indiana and Chicago sit, respectively, seventh and eighth in the playoff race.

As for that whole media-savvy thing, let’s dive into their social numbers: Reese has a decent edge in the Twitter war, with 547,400 followers to Clark’s 411,000. But Reese owns Instagram to the tune of 3.5 million followers, a whopping 900,000 more than Clark.

We’ve come to appreciate Reese’s ability to shape her public image, which got us to thinking about her predilection for giving herself exceptional nicknames.

Admittedly, she isn’t a nickname savant along the lines of Shaquille O’Neal, who, at various times in his Hall of Fame career, dubbed himself Diesel, the Big Cactus, Shaq Daddy, Wilt Chamberneezy, Shaq Fu, and our personal favorite, the Big Aristotle. There are about a billion more Shaq sobriquets, but you get the idea.

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For her part, Reese—who, as of this writing, is riding a double-double streak for the ages—uses various iterations of “[Fill in the Blank] Barbie” in a manner similar to the way O’Neal rolled with “The Big [Fill in the Blank].”

To that end, here are Reese’s four most notable Barbie-centric monikers, listed in order of worst to best. (Note: There is no worst—they’re all exceptional.)

4. Baltimore Barbie

Nothing wrong with this one—Charm City is her hometown, after all—but it feels somewhat, oh, let’s say generic. Any local athlete could use it, and it would be fine: Baltimore Babe Ruth, Baltimore Michael Phelps, Baltimore Al Kaline, and, of course, Baltimore Sam Cassell. A potential ROY deserves better.

3. League Barbie

The gritty forward gave herself this one on or around May 29 after dropping one of those aforementioned double-doubles against the Seattle Storm.

We understand what she was shooting for—the WNBA is her playground, and she doesn’t care who knows it—but “League” isn’t quite as slick as one would hope.

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Plus, this one never gained any traction.

2. Chi-Town Barbie

Were it not for its potentially limited shelf life, this one would top the charts. It’s cool, it smacks of civic pride—Chicago sports fans are all about civic pride—and it’ll look great on the side of a CTA bus. But if she inks with, say, the Las Vegas Aces when her contract is up in 2028, it’s out with Chi-Town Barbie and in with Vegas Barbie.

1. Bayou Barbie

“The name Bayou Barbie came from a fan in Baton Rouge. She just called me the Bayou Barbie, and my mom heard it and we just ran with it. I mean, it kind of fits me. I’m in Baton Rouge, which is the bayou, and then the Barbie part is my nails, lashes, hair [which are] always done on the court, so yeah, it went together.”

- Angel Reese

Whether she’s playing with the Chicago Sky, or the New York Liberty, or, hell, the Denver Nuggets, this homage to her tenure at LSU will be stuck with Reese for the remainder of her career. And that's a beautiful thing.

Stats. Streaks. Savvy. Sobriquets. Now you know why we find Angel Reese so intriguing.

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Alan Goldsher
ALAN GOLDSHER