Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson made a daring comparability on Monday when he wrote on social media about budding WNBA stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
While Clark and Reese have each downplayed any notion of a rivalry between the 2, Johnson in contrast their scenario to his and Larry Bird when the 2 have been within the NBA within the late Seventies.
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Magic Johnson, #32 of the Los Angeles Lakers, stands on the court docket throughout an NBA sport on the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles in 1988. (Mike Powell/Getty Images)
Johnson and Bird’s rivalry culminated in a 1979 National Championship sport between Magic’s Michigan State and Larry’s Indiana State. The sport marked the start of a prolonged rivalry that veered into the NBA between the Lakers and Boston Celtics. Multiple NBA championships have been received between the 2 gamers, and Johnson thinks he’s seeing the identical within the WNBA.
“When I take into consideration Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese’s affect on the sport, they remind me quite a lot of Larry Bird and me. Our first assembly, Indiana State vs. Michigan State, within the NCAA Championship set the all-time viewership file for males’s basketball,” he wrote on X. “Caitlin and Angel’s 2023 NCAA Championship matchup and their 2024 Elite Eight video games have been the very best viewership information on the time.
FEVER’S GAME PLAN COMES UNDER SCRUTINY OVER LACK OF CAITLIN CLARK SHOTS AS TEAM SQUANDERS 15-POINT LEAD TO SKY
Larry Bird, left, and Magic Johnson of the USA Men’s Basketball group sit on the bench in the course of the sport on the Rose Garden in 1992 in Portland, Oregon. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE by way of Getty Images)
“Larry and I heightened the NBA’s total recognition. The Lakers and Celtics offered out arenas all through the league and elevated tv viewership exponentially. The larger viewership numbers led to the NBA signing considerably bigger TV contracts which then led to larger salaries for the gamers.
“Caitlin and Angel are actually doing the identical factor, promoting out arenas and rising the viewership. They have taken ladies’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV offers on the horizon, the WNBA is now able to barter larger TV contracts and improve salaries for the entire gifted gamers.”
The Chicago Sky edged the Indiana Fever, 88-87, behind Reese’s eighth straight double-double. Clark set a Fever franchise file for many assists in a sport with 13.
However, neither has confirmed {that a} rivalry is constructing between the 2.
“I’m fairly certain that the one individuals who view this as a rivalry is all of you,” Clark instructed reporters after her Fever beat the Atlanta Dream on Friday night time. “For us, it’s only a sport of basketball. That’s what it’s. If it’s going to assist transfer the sport ahead, then completely. That’s superb. That’s what it ought to be. People can discuss it.”
Reese was requested about it by ESPN’s Holly Rowe after Sunday’s sport.
Caitlin Clark, proper, and Angel Reese on the WNBA Draft held on the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 15, 2024 in New York City. (Cora Veltman/Sportico by way of Getty Images)
“It’s simply competitors,” Reese mentioned. “I imply, they nonetheless received us, they’re one up on us. So I’m simply joyful for the group. And I need to make it about us. Chicago, they got here out tonight, so I’m simply joyful for us.”
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Whatever they name it, it’s been must-watch TV for the WNBA.
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