Angel Reese Is Fantastic At Playing The WNBA's Newest Villain

Every great superhero movie needs a villain, and after a month of Chicago Sky Angel Reese's rookie season, she is happy to embrace her role as the newest WNBA villain. Since the season started she has been ejected, fined, and embroiled in a Caitlin Clark controversy, which turned into a national conversation.

Those people who say that her villain role has not had an impact are not paying attention to what is really happening around the WNBA.

Reese believes that women's basketball has grown in part because of her. It's not just Caitlin Clark, she says.

"People are talking about women's basketball that you'd never would think would be talking about women's basketball. People are pulling up to games. We've got celebrities coming to games [and] sold-out arenas just because of one single game," Reese said. "And just looking at that, I'll take that role. I'll take the bad guy role, and I'll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates, and I know I’ll go down in history."

"I’ll look back in 20 years and be like: ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person, it’s because of me too, and I want you to realize that," she added. "Like it's just not cause of one person. A lot of us have done so much for this game."

From a statistical standpoint, clearly, more people are showing up to watch Clark in person than any other player or team. Attendance at non-Caitlin Clark WNBA games this past weekend:
7,638
4,015
9,878
7,035
3,265
10,207
7,024

Attendance at Caitlin Clark's WNBA games last weekend:
17,274
17,401

"I’ll look back in 20 years and be like: ‘Yeah, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person, it’s because of me too, and I want you to realize that," said Reese. "Like it's just not cause of one person. A lot of us have done so much for this game."

THE UNDERRATED OPINION
It's not surprising that Clark's game attendance is significantly higher than that of any other player or team at this point, but that doesn't mean Reese isn't having a significant impact on the sport's growth. Ultimately, Reese's on-court presence, social media presence, and in-game antics have helped accelerate a divide between Clark and the rest of the WNBA.

Clark has already demonstrated that she can handle all the pressure coming at her, but Reese's willingness to embrace a villain role has played a major role in the WNBA's recent growth. While Reese's brashness will upset Clark supporters, it is clearly helping to build new interest in the WNBA across the sports landscape.

The best villains in sports are the athletes who want to be villains. Just ask Dennis Rodman.