Joy Taylor makes bold claim about Caitlin Clark

Joy Taylor made a bold claim when talking about Caitlin Clark recently.

Taylor was a guest on the “Joe Budden Podcast” Monday and talked about the rivalry between Clark and Angel Reese. Taylor believes that when Reese got in Clark’s face and taunted her during the NCAA championship game in 2023, it elevated Clark’s popularity.

“When Angel and Caitlin got into it in the championship game, and Angel did the ring thing, I said this is the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird moment for the WNBA. Like, this is great. I’m a storyteller. I think storylines are so f—ing important. I think you need villains, I think you need heroes. You need sh-t to sell. You gotta sell a fight. Like, brand, all of this. It upset white men to watch this strong, winning, unapologetic black woman be in Caitlin’s face. And they still cling to it.

“And it’s now like spun to this whole thing where it’s like, ‘Caitlin is better than Angel.’ I just said we would not be talking about Caitlin Clark the way that we do if it wasn’t for that moment with Angel Reese,” Taylor said.

Taylor was adamant about her claim and said she would die on that hill. The other hosts for the show disagreed with the contention.

What Taylor is missing — and what so many others who back Reese get wrong — is that Clark had developed a following and fame before Reese ever did that. Clark was drawing TV ratings, selling out arenas, and generating buzz while at Iowa, well before that moment with Reese. It was Clark’s unique style of play that caused her to become famous and popular. She was making shots from extremely far away from the basket and was essentially the female Steph Curry. She had the only 40-point triple-double in the NCAA Tournament ever, and that was prior to the Reese incident.

Sure, the incident with Reese helped elevate both of them, but acting like Clark wasn’t independently popular beforehand ignores the reality of the situation. This line of thinking attributes way more value to what Reese brings to the situation than to what value Clark brings on her own. People want to watch Clark play; Reese isn’t selling tickets.