Magic Johnson Addresses Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Rivalry Comparison With 3 Words
Anybody who has paid any attention to women's basketball over the past few years is well aware of the "rivalry" between former NCAA and current WNBA superstars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
"Rivalry" is put in quotes because neither Clark nor Reese wants to admit that such a rivalry exists. But even if neither of them holds any hostility or ill sentiment toward the other, the narrative that there's (at the very least) a competitive on-court rivalry between the two is undeniable.
It's also undeniable that their relationship has brought women's basketball a ton of attention, and helped grow the game tenfold. This is why Clark and Reese are often compared to the rivalry between NBA legends Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who met in the 1979 NCAA National Championship before spending their entire NBA careers battling back and forth with their respective superteams (Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers and Bird's Boston Celtics).
The interest in this duo worked wonders for making the NBA into the massive (although recently struggling) success it remains today.
Magic Johnson made a December 18 appearance on FOX Sports' "Speak" show. When asked about his feelings on the comparison between the Clark and Reese rivalry to what he and Bird had, Johnson said, "I love it."
He then added, "They dominated in college, and then they brought it over to the WNBA just like we brought it to the NBA... And now everything that these young ladies have been fighting for, they're about to get."
He later added of Clark and Reese's success, "It has been great to watch."
It's cool to hear Johnson co-sign this comparison. Now all the Clark and Reese rivalry needs is multiple WNBA Finals faceoffs.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.