The 2025 WNBA season tipped off with fireworks from Angel Reese versus Caitlin Clark, often dubbed as the WNBA version of Magic vs Bird. And it was not long before sparks began to fly. Reese seemed to have an open layup, but Clark just lunged in, resulting in a foul. Reese was taking no prisoners as she immediately was in Clark’s face, who walked away from her. 

Initially, the foul was given as a personal one but upgraded to a flagrant 1 after review. Reese was also given a technical, along with Aliyah Boston, for their involvement in the aftermath. Post this game, the attention turned away from the game and to ‘that foul.’ With every expert and every fan only having this as the major topic of conversation, despite a record-setting game in so many ways.

Rachel A. DeMita, a national analyst who covers the WNBA extensively, expressed her frustration and slammed the league on her YouTube channel. She said, “I do actually have to think about how I want to move forward with covering this league because it’s so—it’s actually embarrassing; it’s so embarrassing covering this league. If this is going to be the whole season, I can’t do it again, you guys. Like, I’m not interested. I’m this close to not being interested in basketball anymore because I can’t escape this stuff that comes up.”

To usurp the interest of a lifelong fan whose job involves the sport, it really takes something. This whole saga has not been a good look for the league. Early in the season, it has become more about the drama than the basketball. From now on, more people will be focused on any kind of further escalation of this controversy rather than watching the game. Professionalism thrown out the window results in absolute chaos. Last year, too, the Clark-Reese debate extended beyond just the on-court game to the color of their skin. With the players reportedly unhappy that Clark did not take a strong stance against racism.

Even this year, when LeBron James congratulated Caitlin on her triple-double in the Chicago Sky game, people questioned him about why he didn’t make any tweets about Angel Reese. The fans questioned James, who has been a victim of racism at many of his games. Some fans just went above and beyond to make this about the skin color. DeMita further assured us that we will see more of this drama throughout this season.

She said, “The WNBA wanted to capitalize on the Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry by putting these two teams up against one another five times during this season. We have four more games of this, and this was game one. A basketball play has escalated into this, and this was game one. On a basketball play, one basketball play has escalated into this.”

Opening the season with the Sky vs. Fever matchup was a smart and deliberate move by the WNBA to capture attention and drive massive viewership. It worked. Fans tuned in, the media covered every angle, and the buzz was undeniable. The Sky-Fever game averaged 2.5 million viewers this past weekend, according to ESPN PR. 

But while drama can bring people through the door, it cannot be the foundation of a lasting sports league. If controversy continues to be the main driver of interest, the league risks being seen more as entertainment than elite competition. For the WNBA to be taken seriously in the long term, it needs to center the basketball—the talent, the rivalries, the stories on the court—and build an audience of true sports fans, not just those chasing the latest viral moment. The amount of ridicule went beyond anything after a group of fans started a petition to ban Dave Portnoy from attending games.

Petition started to ban Dave Portnoy from attending WNBA games

Dave Portnoy, the viral Caitlin Clark fan and a longtime Angel Reese hater, came in with a full Caitlin Clark jersey to watch the Fever-Sky game. He also won $350,000 as a result of Clark’s triple-double, which has caused more controversy among fans who accused the Fever star of just going in late in the game to earn money for Portnoy.

All that controversy took a turn for the worse when a fan started a petition to ban Dave Portnoy from attending WNBA games. He was also accused of racism for his multiple hate tweets against Reese, so citing all of these, this group of people wants him out. As for now, the petition has closed with 1,029 supporters.

The petition mentioned, “Barstool founder Dave Portnoy has inserted himself into this space, where he has disrespected the talented women of this league. For years, he has been harassing Angel Reese, a Black woman, using his online platform. Recently, he came to a WNBA game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky. He has previously been caught saying the N-word on video along with other racist remarks.” The petition also added his bet on Caitlin Clark somehow made him even worse because the league has a majority of African American women, and he ‘cashed out on their talent.’ 

39 states in the USA have made betting on sports completely legal, and it has been heavily normalized in every sports league. New Jersey and Illinois each exceeded $1 billion in betting revenue for the first time in 2024, so it’s on the rise, and it is not only Portnoy making money off the WNBA. Penn Entertainment, the operator behind ESPN BET, reported a more than 150% increase in WNBA betting handle year over year, while BetMGM reported a 108% increase in WNBA betting for 2024. BetMGM also said Caitlin Clark brought in five times as many prop bets as the next closest player. Portnoy himself ridiculed this petition via his X (formerly Twitter) account.

All these accusations being thrown around without any concrete evidence have only added to the chaos surrounding a league that is still trying to find its footing among the major sports leagues in the country. Instead of focusing on the game and the incredible talent on the court, the narrative has been consumed by controversy and speculation. It’s unfair to the players and distracting for the fans who genuinely care about the sport. We’ll see if this investigation turns up anything meaningful, but until then, the noise continues to overshadow the progress the league is trying to make.