Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are one of the fiercest opposing duos in the WNBA in the last three years. Although they play very different brands of basketball, their rivalry has been feeding the league since they entered the league and has put fans in opposing camps. On Thursday, moments between the Indiana Fever star and the Atlanta Dream star might have united at least some of their fans, watching an almost natural chemistry between them.
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“We’ve played against each other so many times. I’m sure we know each other’s game like the back of each other’s hand,” Reese told TNT Sports.
“Just easily dishing it off to her. She dishes off to me. She knows my spots. I kinda got one to her today, maybe two. So it’s fun. We just continue to build chemistry because we know we’re gonna be USA teammates for a while.”
The former college rivals have brought their rivalry to the WNBA. However, the WNBA rivals gave some of the best highlights in the USA’s win over Hungary. Reese scored nine points on impressive shooting, and Clark assisted on six of her points.
The first highlight of chemistry between Reese and Clark came in the last second of the first quarter. The rivals showed an excellent understanding when Clark set Reese up for an easy basket in a pick-and-roll. One of the highlight passes featured the Fever star throwing an almost full-court pass to Reese under the basket.
But it wasn’t just one-way. In one of the viral plays, Reese set Clark up for an easy layup. During the third quarter, Reese stole the ball from her opponent, dribbled the ball across the court, and passed the ball to Clark for a transition layup.
Reese finished the game with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block in 18 minutes. She was 4-of-5 from the field. Clark missed her second double-double of the 2026 FIBA World Cup. She had 10 points and 9 assists in just over 20 minutes. She logged the team’s highest +36 in plus/minus. However, the Fever star didn’t have a good shooting night, converting only three of her eight field goal attempts.
While their fanbase largely remains divided in the WNBA, both Reese and Clark have never spoken ill of each other. Clark has previously defended Reese from criticism, and before the quarterfinal game against Hungary, her appreciation for her Team USA was telling.
“We’re both fiery, fiery competitors, and we want to win,” Clark told reporters before the quarterfinal game when asked about the reason behind their successful basketball careers.
“It’s one of the things I really admire about her game. She’s competitive, and she has a tremendous motor, like she has one of the best motors in the league. She works just as hard as anybody on the court. So, it’s been fun to be able to play with her.”
While Clark and Reese have been part of Team USA on the international stage, they haven’t been teammates. Clark was part of Team USA in 2019 and 2021 at the FIBA U-19 World Cup and the FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship in 2017. However, Reese wasn’t part of that team. Reese was part of Team USA at the 2023 FIBA AmeriCup, but Clark wasn’t.
Regardless this is the first time the two WNBA stars have linked up on the biggest stage in international basketball.
As for Team USA, they are finally showing their depth, featuring a balanced mixture of veterans and some of the best American stars in the WNBA. Since the scary 55-52 win over Italy, they won their last group game over Czechia by 41 points and won by 52 points (108-56) against Hungary in the quarterfinal. They will face the winner of Australia vs. Spain in the semifinal on Saturday, Sep. 12.