Angel Reese may have averted being Caitlin Clark’s ‘villain’ if she…

Angel Reese startled fans by stating that she nearly gave up her basketball career before getting signed by the Chicago Sky in the WNBA, implying that her competition with Caitlin Clark was gone before it even begun.

The former LSU Tigers star, who won a national championship in 2023 while being mentored by Shaquille O’Neal, is now one of the most well-known figures in American athletics and professional basketball, but how did she almost quit up?

The first make-or-break moment came when she injured her foot while playing for the University of Maryland, leaving her with setbacks following surgery and a 12-week recovery time when a screw was installed.

Then it didn’t get any better when the 6ft3in ace shattered her tibia and required a rod to walk again, let alone step back on a court, but it was the mental toll, not the physical wounds, that nearly forced her to retire.

“My confidence has completely dropped,” Reese told I Am Athlete. “I was like, ‘Do I wanna play basketball anymore?'”

“As though I had big expectations. Everyone thinks I’m going to do this [make it pro]. But I didn’t think I could do it anymore. Because I believed I had regained my love for the game, but then I lost it again.”

Reese bounces back

However, she persevered and was rewarded in 2023 when she won the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball national championship game by dunking on Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes, igniting their rivalry.

And in 2024, things got even sweeter when she revealed her plan to enter the WNBA Draft, where she was selected as the sixth overall choice by the Sky to fulfill her dream of playing professional basketball, which she has also settled into nicely.

She now hopes to continue her professional career, after going through what sounds like hell to get there, by facing the Indiana Fever on July 23 at Wintrust Arena. The game starts at 16:00 ET/13:00 PT.