Clark and Reese are eager to collaborate in the WNBA All-Star Game.

In the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese will set aside their animosity to play together on Team WNBA against the US women’s national team for 40 minutes.
Over the course of a weekend that has seen the elite of women’s basketball gather in the scorching Arizona sun, the reunion of Clark and Reese has taken on a life of its own. They are aware of it.

Reese said on Friday, “That’s what everybody wants to see.”
The two have briefly accepted being teammates. They faced off against each other in the 2023 Women’s NCAA tournament national championship game while Clark was at Iowa and Reese was at LSU. They also faced off three times in the first part of the WNBA season. During Friday morning’s practice, they worked together on a pick-and-roll.
“I’m excited about it,” Reese said. “Let’s all wear our ‘Get Along’ shirts together for at least one day. They’re in for a good one since both teams have a lot of quality on their lineups. I know a lot of people will come watch us and see us all.”
Clark said it would be “really great” to share the All-Star experience with Reese as rookies and that it will be “fun” to share a court with him.
Leading all players in voting for the All-Star Game, Clark is certain that the focus she and Reese, who came in fifth, are creating on women’s basketball will not only endure but also flourish.
Their influence was seen in the All-Star selection process. More than 380,000 votes were cast for each. A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces was the most popular vote-getter last season, despite receiving less than 100,000 votes.
Both Clark and Reese, who will play in the All-Star Game, turned down invites to compete in Friday night’s skills competition: Reese in the skills challenge and Clark in the 3-point competition.
For the first year at least, Reese said she declined the offer in order to “enjoy” her first All-Star Game and just watch. Despite not being on the national team, she intends to take a holiday and spend some of her month-long Olympic break in Paris. She intends to squeeze in some exercise and antique shopping.
Clark mentioned rest as her excuse for staying out of the 3-point competition.
“I’ve been playing basketball for a year straight,” Clark said. “Just showing up and shooting off of a rack is not an easy thing to do. I’ve never done anything like this before. I haven’t got much opportunity to practice it. I have been concentrating on helping my team win games, so I believe that I should simply enjoy this break. However, I also believe that there will be more possibilities for me to do that in the future since the competition’s shooters are so talented. Since they’re all around 40% shooters, I’m thrilled for them.It will be enjoyable, and I’ll be there to support them. However, I believe that the best course of action for me is to just acknowledge that I need a vacation and some alone time in order to appreciate my hobbies. And in my current situation, it may be difficult at times.”
Clark acknowledged that playing for the Olympic squad was her ambition and her objective, but she also acknowledged that having a four-week sabbatical would be “very beneficial.” In addition, she wants to take a trip and give herself “some time to breathe.”
Clark, who identified as someone who “wants to continue to work and continue to play,” acknowledged that it won’t be simple.
“I probably will feel a little bit uncomfortable, like not touching the basketball for a week or so,” Clark said. “But I know that’s going to be the healthiest thing for myself and I think just relax, like, turn my phone off, get away from everything and really enjoy it because, obviously, this past year has been super crazy.”I consider myself really lucky to have that as well. I mean, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Clark offered some perspective on her tiredness, despite the fact that she is clearly exhausted.
“I mean like, sure, I’m tired, but at the same time, there’s so many people that would kill to be in my shoes and so many people that are going through so much worse in their lives,” Clark said. “I mean, I play basketball professionally, so I have no problems; my life is excellent. And I will be tired if I am going to be weary. I mean, I’d take it any day of the week. Thus, this break will undoubtedly be enjoyable.
She needs time to process and think back on all that has occurred to her in the last year, which is one of the reasons she understands she has to set down the ball.
“It goes so fast and you don’t want to miss any of the moments,” Clark said. It’s absurd. I’m at my first All-Star Game, and it seems like I was just in college yesterday. So, just take a moment to think back on everything, appreciate it, and reset yourself before returning and ready to play in the second half.”

More in Sports: https://buzzing.today/sports/
Photo Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/