Angel Reese’s Strong Message on Caitlin Clark Resurfaces After World Cup
BERLIN — The gold medals had barely been draped around their necks before the discourse cranked back up.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, teammates for the first time in their careers on a senior USA Basketball roster, helped the Americans capture a fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s World Cup title on Sunday in Berlin. Team USA beat France 97-79 after trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half. It was a dominant finish to a 6-0 tournament run, and it gave both Clark and Reese their first senior international gold medals.
But almost immediately, the conversation shifted away from basketball and back to a question both players have spent years answering: Are they friends?
Clark shut that down hard. A reporter asked her postgame if she and Reese had “finally become friends” after sharing the bench all summer. Clark did not let it slide.
“We have always been friends,” Clark said, jabbing a finger at the reporter. “Don’t try to do that. Don’t do that.”
The moment went viral. And within days, an old interview with Reese resurfaced — one that makes Clark’s frustration make perfect sense.
The Resurfaced Interview
The clip comes from Reese’s appearance at ComplexCon 2024, sitting down with Speedy Morman. Complex reposted the segment on Instagram on Tuesday, and it spread quickly.
In the interview, Reese spoke candidly about her relationship with Clark, tracing their history back to AAU basketball in eighth and ninth grade. She made it clear there has never been any personal animosity.
“It’s been competition since college, being able to play against Caitlin,” Reese said. “I’ve been playing against Caitlin since we were probably in eighth or ninth grade. We both were really competitive during AAU. So people don’t know the legacy of us being able to play against each other for a really long time.”
Then Reese addressed the elephant in the room: the way social media and sports media have framed their rivalry.
“But obviously social media is going to put two women against each other,” she said. “I think it’s been something that’s negative, but also positive. I think it shines light on women’s basketball. So I’ll take that, being able to be the person that gets the hate, but I know that at the end of the day I’m growing women’s basketball and helping women’s basketball.”
Her final point was the clearest.
“I promise you, it’s just basketball. I don’t have any hard feelings toward her. She doesn’t have any hard feelings toward me, but it gets crazy sometimes.”
That message, delivered over a year ago, is exactly what Clark was reaffirming in Berlin. The two have been saying the same thing for years. And yet the question keeps coming.
The World Cup Made It Impossible to Ignore
If the interview wasn’t enough, the World Cup provided the visual proof.
The most viral moment came in the gold medal game. With Team USA trailing France late in the second quarter, Clark received a pass in the left corner and buried a buzzer-beating three to cut the deficit to 45-43. The loudest reaction on the bench came from Reese, who jumped from her seat and celebrated as Clark headed toward the sideline.
The moment challenged everything the rivalry narrative had built. These weren’t enemies. They were teammates, and Reese was genuinely happy for Clark’s success.
Throughout the tournament, the chemistry was undeniable. Against Hungary in the quarterfinals, Clark assisted on Reese’s first three field goals. Reese returned the favor in the second half, finding Clark for a basket. At one point, Clark assisted Reese three times in roughly five minutes as the Americans turned the game into a rout.
The numbers backed it up even further. Reese shot 83 percent from the field off passes from Clark during the World Cup, a stat that went viral and sparked calls for the two to team up in the WNBA.
Clark finished the tournament as Team USA’s assists leader, averaging 5.3 per game despite coming off the bench. Reese averaged 7.2 points and five rebounds in just 15 minutes per game, providing energy and physicality in the paint.
Both Players Have Always Said the Same Thing
This isn’t new. Reese and Clark have been shutting down the beef narrative since their college days.
After LSU beat Iowa in the 2023 national championship game — a game that drew 9.9 million viewers and featured Reese’s famous “you can’t see me” gesture toward Clark — Clark was asked about Reese’s trash talk. She defended her.
“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all,” Clark said at the time. “No matter which way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I’m just one that competes, and she competed.”
Ahead of their Elite Eight rematch in 2024, Reese was equally direct.
“Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other. I want everybody to understand that,” Reese said. “It’s just a super-competitive game. Once I get between those lines, there’s no friends. I’m going to talk trash to you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game, we can kick it.”
They have been saying it for years. The media keeps asking anyway.
What Reese Said After the World Cup
Reese offered her own perspective on the partnership after Team USA advanced past Hungary.
“We’ve played against each other so many times, so I’m sure we know each other’s game like the back of each other’s hand,” Reese told TNT Sports. “We just continue to build chemistry because we know we’re going to be USA teammates for a while.”
That’s a notable statement. Reese isn’t just dismissing the feud narrative — she’s looking ahead to a future where they play together again. The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles are the next major target. Both players will be in their prime.
For now, they return to the WNBA as competitors. The Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream both sit at 26-14, with Atlanta holding the tiebreaker for fourth place and Indiana fifth. A playoff matchup between them is entirely possible.
But the World Cup showed something different. It showed two players who have been pitted against each other since they were teenagers, finally on the same side, winning together.
Reese said it best over a year ago: “I don’t have any hard feelings toward her.”
Clark said it best on Sunday: “We have always been friends. Don’t try to do that.”
Maybe this time, people will finally listen.
