Can We Just Let Angel Reese Play Basketball?

Despite a new WNBA season, Angel Reese is facing the same old, tired mess.

The Chicago Sky faced the Indiana Fever in Saturday’s anticipated season opener. But what dominated post-game conversations wasn’t the 93-58 blowout in the Fever’s favor, but one play between Reese and Caitlin Clark.

At the end of the third quarter, Clark received a flagrant foul after slapping Reese’s arm as she tried to go up for a lay up, causing the 6’3” athlete to fall. Upon getting up, Reese, visibly upset, confronted Clark. Fever center Aliyah Boston stepped in between the two to deescalate the situation. Referees called technical fouls on Reese and Boston and a flagrant foul on Clark.

Not long afterwards, WNBA fans (and foes) chimed in, with several admonishing Reese for her reaction. Former NFL player Robert Griffin III tweeted that he knows “what hatred looks like,” referring to Reese’s feelings towards Clark. Others used words like “petty” and “insufferable” and downplayed Reese’s game.

What’s actually insufferable is this conversation. Because what I saw — and what the two athletes confirmed in post-game interviews — was that this was just a part of basketball, a contact sport in which things can and will get testy.

When asked about the play, Reese kept it brief: "Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on."

Clark had a similar sentiment. "Let's not make it something that it's not," the Fever point guard said. "It was just a good play on the basketball. I'm not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that's up to their discretion. It's a take foul to put them at the free throw line. I've watched a lot of basketball in my life; that's exactly what it was. I wasn't trying to do anything malicious. That's not the type of player I am."

Meanwhile, the WNBA announced in a statement that they will be investigating alleged hate speech thrown at Reese from the stands on Saturday. On Thursday, they also launched their season-long “No Space for Hate” initiative to better protect players.

"The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or in society," the league said in a statement. "We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter."

The same folks commenting on Reese’s “behavior” are the same people who wouldn’t even bat an eye if this same thing happened in the NBA, which it does all the time. Instead of just being a passionate athlete caught up in a heated moment during a game, Reese has been labeled an angry Black woman.

Chatter about the incident overshadowed the fact that in that same game, Reese became the quickest player in WNBA history to record at least 450 points and 450 rebounds in her career with just 35 games played, according to Sports Illustrated.

This racist, sexist narrative has followed Reese from her college days. Since the two played each other during the 2023 NCAA championship game when Reese was a Louisiana State University Tiger and Clark was an Iowa Hawkeyes, this has felt like a rivalry forced by fans and pundits. During the game, Reese taunted Clark with a gesture the latter often used on the court to mean “you can’t see me.” Reese was labeled “classless” and “unsportsmanlike,” showing a double standard in how Black women on the court are perceived. 

“I don’t fit the box that y’all want me to be in,” she told reporters after winning the national title in 2023. “I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year. When other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing.” 

Black women can’t never just play the damn game. There's always something to conquer just to get to the point where we can play our game. And even then, the world expects us to have to justify our place. After the week Black women have had, witnessing hate thrown towards Cassie, Halle Bailey, and even a damn statue, all we want is for folks to keep their ashy little opinions far away from us.