Louisiana State University vs University of Iowa, 2023 NCAA Women's National Championship

When Caitlin Clark’s first preseason game debuted on WNBA Pass and Angel Reese’s anticipated debut was nowhere to be found other than a livestream that drew hundreds of thousands of fans wondering how the WNBA’s No. 7 overall pick and a leading candidate for most popular player was doing, fans expressed their discontent.

Fans were visibly frustrated on social media that Reese’s game was not carried by a network and the WNBA failed to take advantage of the interest of one of its new stars.

Angel Reese sits on wooden bleachers with a basketball on her knee.

It took incredible pressure from social media and a weekend full of complaints and WNBA bashing, but the people have spoken, and the W has finally responded with a WNBA League Pass preseason game featuring Reese AKA “Chi-Town Barbie” and Kamilla Cardoso‘s Chicago Sky.

Reese’s skills will surely be tested against the NY Liberty, who were in the WNBA Finals last season and are expected to make another run with its star-studded team led by MVP Breanna Stewart, who will test Reese’s game early and often.

Black Twitter and Black Culture Attacked WNBA All Weekend For Not Showing Angel Reese Debut

Everyone joined in on the WNBA fry this weekend, including Dwyane Wade and other celebrities, who have already acknowledged something the WNBA was way late on. Something I have personally been writing about since before the draft.

He was watching and gave a shoutout to both Reese and her fellow rookie center 6-foot-7 Cardoso, also a very popular player.

Wade liked what he was seeing from Reese and Cardoso and thinks that the tandem has a bright future in the WNBA.

On X (formerly Twitter), Wade wrote “Just the beginning!” while sharing a highlight of the former college rivals in unison as pros.

Angel Reese Is Famous Just Like Caitlin Clark: Different Audience

In many circles, Angel Reese is just as famous as Clark, just without the incredible corporate push and $28M Nike deal that catapulted Clark to a new level of celebrity. The scoring records help too, but WNBA fans understand that they are two totally different types of players with different duties. Because Reese is not a ball-dominant guard doesn’t lessen her effectiveness. It will limit her shots, as she took seven in her debut, and Clark took 16 shots.

Reese’s 3 million Instagram followers are proof of her popularity, as that’s about 800K more followers than Clark has.

Reese also attracts a darker hue of fan than Clark, an often-overlooked population of people who attend games, follow players, but don’t get the same respect or understanding or connection from corporate.

“People are begging to watch the games now,” Reese, who turned 22 on May 6, told a reporter after her WNBA debut.

“And we didn’t have that five years ago so being able to just see that and see what we’re doing right now. Obviously, it wasn’t what we wanted but people still watched it and we got the attention,” Reese added. “We will have more games on TV.”

WNBA Continues To Drop The Ball And Misread Fan Base 

The fans couldn’t be any clearer. The thousands of tweets told the story.

 

Some newbie fans, only interested in jocking Caitlin Clark or creating some kind of division between her and the other players who have entered the league as stars, will still say nobody cares about the WNBA.

Or they only care about Clark, which means they aren’t interested in the league at all. While there was a time when fans were loyal to their local teams, nowadays fans relate to individuals. Personalities.

The WNBA fans and other fringe fans who didn’t like the dynamics they saw unfolding early in the season spoke up on it before the season got underway. They also reminded the WNBA that there’s more than one cash cow.  More than one player who comes into the league with a superstar’s aura and a legion of fans who will support for many reasons, especially when it seems like the Black girl’s getting overlooked.