Angel Reese Announces Her Season Is Over As Caitlin Clark’s Rookie of the Year Race Could Now Be Decided

Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese announced on X that his season is over due to injury Saturday night after being listed as doubtful for the team’s upcoming game against the Dallas Wings.

“I am filled with emotion right now due to a season-ending injury, but I am also filled with gratitude for what is to come. Even though it is God’s timing and not mine, I am finally able to give myself a physical and mental break. “God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers,” Reese wrote.

Reese finishes her freshman year with an unprecedented number of rebounds. In just her first year, without even completing the full season, Reese broke the record for most rebounds in a WNBA season and the record for most rebounds per game with 13.1.

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Reese broke the single-season scoring record in the Sky’s 79-74 loss at Minnesota on Sept. 1, when she surpassed Sylvia Fowles’ record of 404 points set in 2018. Fowles broke the record by one point just one year after Jonquel Jones recorded 403 points. Reese accomplished the feat in just 23 games.

Reese was considered fellow star Caitlin Clark’s biggest rival for the WNBA Rookie of the Year award. Former NBA All-Star Joakim Noah even told Fox News Digital that he would vote for Chicago rookie Sky Angel Reese on Clark for rookie of the year if he had a say.

“When I watch her acting, she reminds me a lot of myself,” Noah said.

Clark averaged the best points, assists, steals, blocks and shooting percentage in every major category. Clark broke the Fever’s single-season assists record in a loss to Minnesota on Friday.

But Reese had a considerable advantage in rebounding. With 13.1 rebounds per game, Reese more than doubled Clark’s current 5.8 rebounds.

This year, the Fever have beaten the Sky three of four times in head-to-head meetings. In two of those meetings, Reese has scored more points than Clark and grabbed more rebounds than Clark in all four meetings. Clark has more assists in all four meetings.

Former NBA ALL-STAR Explains Why He Picked Angel Reese Over Caitlin Clark for Rookie of the Year

Before his season-ending injury, Reese opened up about his rivalry with Clark on the first episode of his podcast Thursday. Reese expressed immense respect for Clark and said they have no hard feelings toward each other despite a fierce rivalry that dates back to their college careers, when Clark was at Iowa and Reese was at LSU.

However, Reese spoke out against Clark’s passionate fans and claimed that they harassed her.

“I think it’s really the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, that are really just, they ride for her, and I respect that, respectfully. But sometimes it’s very disrespectful. I think there’s a lot of racism in that,” Reese said.

Reese then cited death threats and people coming directly to her house as an alleged example of action taken by Clark’s fans in response to their rivalry.

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“People came to my address, followed me home, and it got to that point,” Reese said.

Reese even alleges that some fans created AI-generated images of her without clothes and sent them to her family members.

“There have been a number of times when people have created naked images of me using AI. They’ve sent them to my family members. They’re like uncles, sending them to me and asking, ‘Are you naked on Instagram?’” Reese said. “It sucks to have to go through that and see other players go through that.”

After Clark was selected with the first overall pick in last year’s WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever, Reese was selected with the seventh overall pick by Chicago. Reese and Clark were the only rookies selected to the WNBA All-Star Game in July.

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