This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Goooood morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time. Happy 4th of July Eve, if that’s a thing.

I usually hate Magic Johnson and Larry Bird comparisons for Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but they’re getting hard to avoid at this point.

Clark and Reese were named to the WNBA All-Star team, making them the first pair of rookies to be named to the All-Star game since 2014, according to ESPN.

It’s well-deserved on both accounts. Clark has found a rhythm with her scoring and has become one of the best passers in the WNBA. Reese is already the league’s best rebounder by far as a rookie.

I always hesitate to go there because Johnson and Bird were some special rookies. Bird, himself, was an MVP candidate in his first year with the Boston Celtics back in the 1979-80 season.

Magic Johnson was inarguably the second-best player on his team behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the eventual NBA champion Lakers.

I don’t think Clark or Reese will see any of that in the immediate future. We’ll see. But these All-Star nods bring them a bit closer to reaching that rare air on the court.

Though it might not be apt from a skill standpoint just yet, here’s where that comparison actually does come into play. Reese and Clark’s careers seem constantly intertwined like those two NBA legends were.

Since the 2023 national championship game, they’ve been on this journey together step for step, usually clashing with one another, yes, but simultaneously building up the game with each matchup.

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It’s so rare that we get two players whose paths seem so inexplicably tied together like this. There are so few examples of this throughout the history of sports.

Johnson and Bird are the obvious go-tos here. But what else is there? Maya Moore and Candace Parker? Peyton Manning and Tom Brady? Who else? I’m sure I’m missing a few more, but the list is certainly short. The fact that we’re even talking about Clark and Reese in this context is incredible.

As human beings, staying in the moment is not easy. We’re conditioned to look forward constantly. What’s coming next? What’s the next move?

But, with this, I’d like to urge everyone to stay in this moment. Appreciate it. Bask in it. Lock in. Because we’re witnessing something special this league has never seen before.