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.
Whereas Clark and Reese have each downplayed any notion of a rivalry between the 2, Johnson in contrast their state of affairs to his and Larry Chicken when the 2 have been within the NBA within the late Nineteen Seventies.
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Magic Johnson, #32 of the Los Angeles Lakers, stands on the courtroom throughout an NBA sport on the Nice Western Discussion board in Los Angeles in 1988. (Mike Powell/Getty Pictures)
Johnson and Chicken’s rivalry culminated in a 1979 Nationwide 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. A number of NBA championships have been gained between the 2 gamers, and Johnson thinks he’s seeing the identical within the WNBA.
“Once I take into consideration Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese’s affect on the sport, they remind me a variety of Larry Chicken 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 best viewership data 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 Chicken, left, and Magic Johnson of the USA Males’s Basketball staff sit on the bench in the course of the sport on the Rose Backyard in 1992 in Portland, Oregon. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE by way of Getty Pictures)
“Larry and I heightened the NBA’s total reputation. The Lakers and Celtics offered out arenas all through the league and elevated tv viewership exponentially. The upper viewership numbers led to the NBA signing considerably bigger TV contracts which then led to increased salaries for the gamers.
“Caitlin and Angel are actually doing the identical factor, promoting out arenas and rising the viewership. They’ve taken girls’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV offers on the horizon, the WNBA is now able to barter increased TV contracts and enhance 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.
Nevertheless, neither has confirmed {that a} rivalry is constructing between the 2.
“I’m fairly positive that the one individuals who view this as a rivalry is all of you,” Clark informed reporters after her Fever beat the Atlanta Dream on Friday evening. “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 wonderful. That’s what it ought to be. Folks 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 Metropolis. (Cora Veltman/Sportico by way of Getty Pictures)
“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 staff. And I wish to make it about us. Chicago, they got here out tonight, so I’m simply joyful for us.”
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No matter they name it, it’s been must-watch TV for the WNBA.
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