Angel Reese has been criticized online for promoting her podcast before congratulating Caitlin Clark for being named WNBA Rookie of the Year.
Clark won the award in a near-unanimous vote on Thursday, giving the Indiana Fever back-to-back winners after Aliyah Boston won the honor last season.
A national panel of sportswriters and sportscasters gave Clark 66 of 67 votes in balloting released Thursday. Reese, the Chicago Sky forward, received the other.
Fans were furious that Clark didn’t win the award unanimously, and launched a search to find the one person who didn’t vote for the former Iowa Hawkeyes player.
They then turned their fury back onto Reese after she promoted the next episode of her podcast, ‘Unapologetically Angel’, before publicly acknowledging Clark’s success.
Angel Reese has been slammed for promoting her podcast over congratulating Caitlin Clark
Reese posted: ‘NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!! WE DROPPED SOME GEMS!!’
Clark fans were quickly in the replies, though. One commented: ‘You not gonna (sic) congratulate your fellow mate for rookie of the year?’
Another posted: ‘Make sure you shout out the #ROTY’
‘You lost rookie of the year but you’re tweeting this,’ added a third critic.
The worst kept secret in the WNBA was finally confirmed on Thursday after Clark, who is currently at the center of another fierce race row, was named Rookie of the Year.
Though while a whopping 98.5 per cent of voters – who were made up of two local journalists from each WNBA market and a collection of national writers – selected her as their winner, it wasn’t a unanimous victory for the Fever sensation.
Incredibly, one voter out of 66 instead chose Reese as Rookie of the Year, despite the Chicago Sky forward failing to make it into the postseason while Clark inspired Indiana to their first playoff appearance since 2016.
A number of fans are desperate to know who the mysterious electorate is, which has led to several reporters taking to X to deny being the culprit.
‘Just so we’re clear… it wasn’t me,’ Connecticut reporter Terrika Foster-Brasby wrote. ‘I voted for CC. So don’t blow me up or call me a hater cause IT WASNT TERRIKA.’
WNBA journalist Khristina Williams also confirmed she is not the voter responsible for selecting Reese, saying: ‘I had Caitlin Clark on my ballot for Rookie of the Year.’
It comes at a time of racial tension across the WNBA after USA Today columnist and Clark biographer Christine Brennan asked Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington about poking the Indiana Fever rookie in the eye – a query characterized as ‘racist’ by the WNBA players’ union.
Clark, the No. 1 overall pick from Iowa, averaged 19.2 points and a league-best 8.4 assists per game while helping the WNBA set attendance records and garner mainstream attention.
She struggled a bit early in the season, but found her groove and was an All-Star starter. The unanimous AP Rookie of the Year led the Fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and a 20-20 record after a 1-8 start.
‘I am incredibly honored to be named Rookie of the Year, but more than that, I am grateful to everyone that supported me throughout this past season — my family and friends, my teammates, the Fever organization and everyone that cheered us on all season. I am so proud of what we accomplished and so excited for what the future holds,’ Clark said in a statement.
Off the court, Clark, Reese and their fellow rookies were a ratings and attendance boon for the WNBA.
Six different league television partners set viewership records this year for its highest viewed WNBA game. All of those games included the Fever.
Indiana led the league in attendance both at home and on the road. The Fever averaged 17,036 at home and more than 15,000 on the road.
Four teams moved home games to bigger arenas when Indiana came to town to accommodate more fans.
