The supposed rivalry between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky has been sold as must-see basketball-largely thanks to the star power of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
When the league puts these two teams on the schedule, it’s rarely about standings or playoff implications – it’s about the personalities and backstory driving fan interest.
But during “Rivals Week,” both Clark and Reese were missing due to injuries, and the absence of its headliners left the matchup looking far less like a grudge game and more like a standard midseason contest.
The heavily-promoted showdown fizzled, reigniting questions about whether this is a true rivalry or a marketing creation.
WNBA under fire over Fever-Sky damp squib
Former WNBA champion Natasha Cloud has been blunt about her skepticism. She believes the league has tried to manufacture this Indiana-Chicago rivalry, leaning heavily on Clark and Reese to sell the storyline.
Without them, the tension feels hollow. On The Women’s Hoops Show, hosts Jordan Robinson and Autumn Johnson agreed with Cloud and broke down the lackluster start to this week.
“The league announced this rivalry week at the beginning of the season and everyone was like, okay, is this just a way to put in the Fever and the Chicago Sky game not being by itself? So you just made up other rivalries to get in there?”
Robinson questioned. “And then the Fever Chicago Sky happened, Caitlin’s not playing, Angel’s not playing, so it didn’t make any headlines. Were these rivalries, Autumn? I don’t know.”
Tension still lingers between Clark and Reese
The roots of the hype trace back to the 2023 NCAA championship, when Reese’s taunting gesture toward Clark lit up social media and launched a storyline that followed them into the WNBA.
The idea of these two young stars squaring off multiple times a season for years to come was tantalizing for fans and league executives alike. Yet both players have pushed back on the notion of personal animosity.
“We’re not best friends, by any means, but we’re very respectful of one another,” Clark said, noting that media narratives often exaggerate their interactions. Reese has been equally dismissive of stoking drama, brushing off questions about Clark with a quick, “Next question.”
Still, there’s no denying that the Clark-Reese dynamic-whether exaggerated or not-has driven massive attention to the WNBA. Their matchups have consistently delivered strong ratings, and both players have become central to the league’s growth narrative.
But Rivals Week without them showed the fragility of a rivalry built around two individuals. If the WNBA wants Indiana vs. Chicago to stand on its own, it may need to cultivate a competitive edge between the teams beyond Clark and Reese’s personal histories.
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