ESPN's Andraya Carter nailed why the Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese discourse is so polarizing

ESPN’s Andraya Carter expertly nailed why so many people are talking about Angel Reese’s recent foul on Caitlin Clark and how the discourse surrounding them will only continue to grow.

Over the weekend, Angel Reese took a bad angle on a foul, attempting to block Caitlin Clark and made contact with Clark’s head. The foul was called a Flagrant 1, and naturally, the discourse about the foul had so many people commenting. (Even Matt Leinart joined the conversations to say the WNBA should suspend Angel Reese.)

Immediately after the game, Caitlin expressed that she understood Angel was making a play on the ball and that it was a “just part of basketball.” Despite Caitlin’s best efforts to quell the chaos she presumably knew was coming, the chatter about the play oozed into Monday. That’s when Andraya Carter did her best to explain on ESPN’s Get Up why so many people are talking about Angel and Caitlin:

“It’s going to pop up because, well, one, it’s Caitlin Clark and people that aren’t familiar with this league don’t know how physical this league is. So, they see Caitlin Clark getting hit at any point, and they think it’s an attack on her.”

“The good part about this is that it is a basketball play…what were we talking about with the Chennedy Carter hit? The biggest grievance was that it was not a basketball play. It wasn’t even close. This was a basketball play…”

“These two going at each other, Angel and Caitlin, in a basketball sense, in trying to lead their team, it’s what helped women’s college basketball blow up. It’s gonna help continue for the WNBA to blow up as well.”

"These two going at each other, Angel [Reese] and Caitlin [Clark], in a basketball sense, in trying to lead their team, it's what helped women's college basketball blow up. It's gonna help continue for the WNBA to blow up as well."

@andraya_carter pic.twitter.com/BFzHnv7ABm

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 17, 2024

Update: Andraya Carter continued her thoughts by saying that a lot of the discourse has lived on because of what both players did in college.

She went on to explain that she is more excited about what they will do as pros because both of their teams aren’t very good right now.

Andraya Carter on Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese: "I enjoy watching these two trying to have success in the W. But if we're being completely honest, their teams are having a mid-off right now. There teams are just very mid. They're 8th and 9th in the WNBA standings." pic.twitter.com/OIXiYDBmFa

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 17, 2024