If the WNBA All-Star draft were a Netflix original, it’d have all the makings of a classic – loyalty, trash talk, entertainment, and in true thriller fashion, a coach swap. In their first year as captains, Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier finalized their rosters. But the storyline everyone had their eyes on quietly vanished.

This was supposed to be the moment the Caitlin Clark–Cheryl Reeve Olympic saga came full circle. Kind of the total opposite of last season’s most-watched event – All-Star 2024. But that juicy twist never made it to the script. So, what actually happened? Why did Clark trade Coach Reeve? And does it have anything to do with the 2024 Olympics drama? Well, let’s walk you through it.

Caitlin Clark goes off script, swaps coaches with Phee at All-Star Draft

Before we get into the past, here’s what actually happened. Caitlin Clark showed up to the WNBA All-Star Draft repping her Indiana Fever gear, while Napheesa Collier rocked an Unrivaled shirt and made it very clear what her priority was. She picked her Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart first overall and went on to collect her whole Lunar Owls crew: Allisha Gray, Courtney Williams, and Skylar Diggins. The only player Collier picked who wasn’t tied to Unrivaled in some way was Nneka Ogwumike.

Clark’s team, meanwhile, is mostly non-Unrivaled – seven players not affiliated with the three-on-three league, including herself, A’ja Wilson, and Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. But the real surprise didn’t come from the player picks, it came from the coach situation.

Clark, as the top vote-getter, was initially paired with Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the Minnesota Lynx. Meanwhile, Collier, who actually plays for Reeve in Minnesota, was assigned New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello. A bit flipped, right? Both captains thought so, too. And while they didn’t manage to pull off any player trades (Clark wasn’t about to give up Aliyah Boston for Breanna Stewart), they did agree on one swap. They traded coaches.

“I don’t know if this is in the rules, I don’t really care,” Clark said. “But I think we’ve already discussed, we are going to trade coaches.” She added with a laugh, “Sorry WNBA, sorry ESPN, but we just made it a rule. Sandy Brondello, come on over, let’s get to it.” Though Collier, now reunited with her own coach Reeve, was loving it. “I love Cheryl. She’s my coach here,” she said. “That’s just going to be worse for Team Clark… more chemistry, more synergy. Bad move, Caitlin, we’re taking you down.”

Even Brondello took it all in stride, joking that her son texted her about the trade and further calling it “awesome” to be part of history. But while no one explained why the swap happened, the history between Coach Reeve and Caitlin Clark pretty much does.

Caitlin Clark and Cheryl Reeve: A complicated history

If you’ve been paying attention, you already know that the trade move didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. The history between the two – though never openly hostile – has always felt a bit… complicated. It all really started when Cheryl Reeve wasn’t thrilled about a preseason Minnesota Lynx game being left off the WNBA League Pass. 

While a fan eventually live-streamed it to the tune of 400,000+ viewers, Reeve didn’t hold back. She publicly called out the league, suggesting that while Clark was getting tons of attention, the rest of the players deserved some shine too. She later clarified that it wasn’t Clark’s fault, but her comments were widely viewed as a jab at the rookie and the WNBA’s “all-in-on-Clark” marketing strategy.

Reeve’s social media activity didn’t help. She’d reposted content criticizing how the league spotlighted Clark at the expense of others and even used hashtags like #12teams and #theWismorethanoneplayer. When asked about a pro-Clark crowd during a Lynx game, Reeve famously brushed it off with, “I don’t give two s–. Not even one s—.”

To be fair, Reeve also acknowledged Clark’s talent publicly and admitted the hype wasn’t just hype, it was backed by skill. But then came the Olympics saga. Clark’s exclusion from the 2024 Paris Olympics team became the storyline of the summer. As head coach of Team USA, Reeve took a lot of heat, even though she insisted she had no control over the roster. 

“I think what people don’t get about it and it’s OK, you can’t change what people think…the coach of the national team truly has no power in the selection of the team,” Reeve explained. Still, many fans weren’t buying it. The tension bubbled over during the 2024 All-Star Game. Clark, then a Fever rookie, played for Team WNBA against Reeve’s Team USA and the rookie stole the show. Despite scoring only 4 points, Clark broke the all-time rookie assists record with 10 dimes, and Team WNBA took down the Olympic squad.

It felt like poetic justice for fans who felt Clark had been unfairly snubbed and maybe even a statement from Clark herself. Since then, Reeve’s tone around Clark has seemingly softened. But for a large part of the fanbase, the Olympic snub still stings, and Reeve is still seen as the face of that decision. So, when Clark swapped Reeve for Brondello, it felt less like a random coaching trade and more like unfinished business.

Maybe it was just about chemistry. Maybe it was strategy. Maybe it was vibes. But with that much history between Clark and Reeve, the storyline writes itself. And despite it all, there’s no doubting Cheryl Reeve’s coaching pedigree. Hands down, one of the sharpest minds in the league, no matter whose sideline she’s on.