Following the Sky’s win over a rare turnover-heavy Liberty team at Barclays Center on Thursday night, Angel Reese took to social media to chirp about her team’s victory over the 2023 WNBA Finals runners-up.
She simultaneously took a apparent dig at the WNBA and potentially at Fever star Caitlin Clark over team and player visibility within the league — or the lack thereof.
“And that’s on getting a WIN in a packed area not just cause of one player on our charter flight. #SKYTOWN,” Reese wrote on X after the Sky’s 90-81 win.
This came after her speaking similar comments to reporters on Thursday about the growth of the women’s game.
“It’s not just one person, I think people don’t realize that [because] the narrative out there is that just one person changing the game,” Reese told reporters Thursday. “It’s a lot of us — me, Kamilla [Cardoso], there’s Cameron [Brink], Rickea [Jackson]. There’s so many great players and it’s been long overdue and just being able to see that our impact has been able to change the game.
“I love it for us all, and we’re just going to continue to keep going.”
Eight-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard was one of many on X to respond Reese’s words, suggesting for her to just focus on the charter plane issue rather than seemingly shading Clark.
“WNBA getting packed arenas is amazing to see ! let’s just talk about that!” he wrote.
It’s not the first post by Reese that indicates her frustration toward both the league’s and sports media’s focus on her former college rival in Clark and the Fever.
“Get Nika her visa NOW, charter flights are HERE, give every team the same PUBLICITY cause it ain’t just one team, online bullying ain’t it AT ALL, and oh the CHICAGO SKY ARE HERE & ON THE RISE!” Reese posted on Tuesday when Nika Mühl — a Croatian-born guard — was waiting for her work visa to be approved, causing her to miss the Storm’s first four games.
After a record-breaking college career, Clark is a big reason behind the surge around women’s basketball after the NCAA Tournament in March.
Her stardom is still growing, as she recently signed a multi-year partnership with Wilson and helped earned the Fever 36 nationally televised games out of their 40 overall in the regular season.
But Reese continues to remind fans and the media that there are other players and teams to still give just as much attention to.
She also has held the league accountable over the lack of charter flights, which the Sky did not have at the start of the 2024 WNBA season, unlike Clark and the Fever as well as the Lynx, who were the first two teams to fly charter for their openers in Connecticut and Seattle, respectively.
The WNBA has said they will “phase in” the charters and that the full plan will begin “as soon as we can get planes in places.”
While flying commercial to Dallas for the Sky’s season opener on May 14, Reese shared to her Instagram Story that she was “praying that this is one of the last commercial flights the Chicago Sky has to fly,” according to TMZ Sports.
Reese, who was the No. 7 overall pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft in April, is averaging 12 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists across the Sky’s (2-1) three games so far this season.
Against the Liberty on Thursday, she recorded a professional career-best of 13 points with nine rebounds over 31 minutes, the most time she has spent on the floor in a WNBA game.
