Sue Bird names her pick in Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese WNBA ROY battle

Sue Bird in the middle, smiling, with question marks all over her, with Fever's Caitlin Clark to her left and Sky's Angel Reese to her right

The 2024 WNBA season has been one of the most exciting years in the history of the league, thanks in large part to the arrival of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, two rookies who have captured the association by storm. Clark and Reese ooze charisma, and they back it up as well with some solid play on the court, with both of them making the All-Star Game despite being in just their maiden WNBA season.

Clark and Reese’s on-court rivalry has been blossoming dating back to their days in college. As one would recall, Reese got the upper hand over Clark in the 2023 National Championship game, with LSU taking a convincing win over Iowa. To this day, this rivalry remains alive and well. In fact, they are each other’s main competition yet again, this time for the honor of being called the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year.

While opinion regarding who deserves to win the award appears to be split, WNBA legend Sue Bird, believes that it is Caitlin Clark who has her vote over Angel Reese. Bird, however, clarified that doing midseason awards thought exercises isn’t her cup of tea, and that things can still change.

Currently, first of all, I hate doing midseason awards, right. Honestly, I’ve felt this way about MVP forever. People would say someone was MVP in the first two weeks and then in a weird way, it kept them in that conversation no matter what they did. So I’ve never been [a fan of mid-season awards], but currently Caitlin Clark,” Bird said in an appearance on Good Game with Sarah Spain.

Caitlin Clark should be the undisputed WNBA Rookie of the Year

With all due respect to Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark’s case for winning the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year award is clear-cut. Clark may be struggling with turnover woes, and her efficiency on a game-to-game basis isn’t exactly the best, but she has been powering the Indiana Fever offense from the moment of her arrival thanks to her elite playmaking and incredible range from beyond the arc.

Clark recently set the WNBA’s all-time record for most assists in a single game, with 19, and the Fever, after a horrible start to the season, have climbed back to respectability with an 11-15 record.

Caitlin Clark is still prone to the occasional ghastly shooting night, but as a rookie those problems are to be expected. Nonetheless, she still racks up stats at an incredible rate, averaging 17/6/8 on the season, and it is now translating to winning — something that Reese used to have on her side as her award-winning argument but no longer does since the Chicago Sky now have a worse record (10-14).

Angel Reese, meanwhile, may be racking up double-doubles on a very consistent basis, but as a forward, she is somehow even worse, efficiency-speaking, than Clark is, who is a guard who mostly shoots threes. The popcorn stats of 14 points and 12 rebounds per game are nice, but her true shooting percentage is at 47.8 percent — or nearly 10 percentage points worse than Clark’s, whose is at 57.1.