Angel Reese receives brutal $5 million Caitlin Clark shade as Fever star takes over Chicago in blowout

Caitlin Clark is just seen as more marketable than her on-court rival, Angel Reese. 

The Indiana Fever star last year turned down a two-year multi-million-dollar offer from rapper Ice Cube’s ‘BIG3’ league, which would have seen her make in excess of $5 million annually had she accepted.

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With the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year having firmly rejected the opportunity to cash in big money whilst playing college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes, the BIG3 could have pivoted toward emerging superstar Reese of the Chicago Sky. 

However, the musician swiftly pushed those suggestions to the side, making it clear that his 3-on-3 basketball league would never make an offer of that sum to the ‘Bayou Barbie’. 

This comes as the BIG3’s sponsors didn’t feel the Sky star could bring the same level of impact – and cash flow – into the league like Clark could. 

“She’s [Angel Reese] a great player,” Ice Cube told TMZ Sports. “Now the thing with Caitlin Clark, it was just to unlock millions of dollars for the league because of her stardom, and what our sponsors were telling us.”

“They didn’t tell us the same thing about Angel Reese, so I don’t know if we can make that same offer because it won’t have the same impact on the league.”

Clark’s rookie contract in the WNBA is set to see her earn a mere $78,000 for the 2025 campaign, significantly less than the BIG3 honcho’s initial offering.

But having penned a lucrative deal with sportswear brand Nike in April 2024, worth an estimated $28 million over eight years, it’s not as though the Fever guard is strapped for cash.

Reese, however, was once upon a time not seen as marketable as her former collegiate rival. 

But in the last month alone, the star who dubbed the term ‘Mebounds’ has released a signature shoe with Reebok, as well as become the cover athlete of the video game NBA 2K26 on their WNBA Edition.  

This comes as the former LSU forward has been dominating the glass this season, averaging a league-high 12.5 rebounds, and has already broken a plethora of WNBA records.

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Clark’s injury struggles has seen Mitchell step up

On the other hand, Clark’s season has very much been derailed by injury, with the 23-year-old having taken to the court just 13 times out of a possible 26 games, and struggling with her shooting, converting just 36.7 percent of her field goal attempts and a lowly 27.9 percent from beyond the arc. 

With her backcourt partner absent, the offensive load has mainly fallen onto Clark’s Fever teammate – and 2025 All-Star – Kelsey Mitchell. 

In their road game against a Reese-less Sky on Sunday night as the star continues to be sidelined with a back injury, Indiana put on a dominant display, and emerged with a 93-78 victory. 

This came as Mitchell exploded for 35 points, in which she shot 7-for-10 from the three-point line, and joined Clark as the only players in Fever franchise history to record 35-plus points, five-plus assists, and five-plus three-pointers made in a single game.  

On the other hand, Reese’s absence highlighted to Chicago just how important she is for the team to experience any kind of success, with them currently on a five-game slide, and now dropping to 7-18 on the season.

Despite these struggles, it was Clark who was still very much the story of the night as her presence in the arena alone vastly overshadowed her team’s performance out on the hardwood. 

Already widely regarded as the face of the league, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a Fever home game with the amount of fans that turned up sporting their colours and vying for Clark’s signature. 

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Dressed in street clothes, Clark can be seen in a video posted to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) signing tens of autographs for over two minutes, ensuring she got to as many fans as possible.  

“This is an away game? ,” one fan wrote on X.

“Even when not playing, the Caitlin Clark effect is insane,” another fan wrote.

“Trying to mention Caitlin Clark without Angel Reese is like talking about Batman without the Joker it just doesn’t hit the same,” a third commented.

There is simply no getting away from the fact that Reese and Clark will likely see their names intertwined with each other throughout the rest of their WNBA careers.

Let’s just hope it makes for a great rivalry for many years to come.