Angel Reese reveals why the U.S. women’s basketball fined $1 million WNBA players.
The selection committee did not select either player for the 12-man Olympic roster for 2024, despite their outstanding WNBA debut seasons.
Due to remarks she made against Caitlin Clark, WNBA player Angel Reese was fined $1 million and removed from the U.S. women’s basketball team.
The Patriots Lovers Facebook page stated on June 18, 2024, that WNBA player Angel Reese was dismissed from the American team and fined $1 million for remarks she made against fellow WNBA player Caitlin Clark:
(Facebook/The Patriots Lovers)
This assertion was untrue. The complaint was posted on a Facebook page that bills itself as a “Satire/Parody” account with a focus on “SATIRE, Humor, and Extra Crispy Tates.”
The piece on SpaceXMania, which openly characterizes the majority of its content as “satirical in nature” and “not meant to be taken seriously,” including this assertion regarding Reese, is where the Facebook post got its start on June 18, 2024. The 22-year-old athlete was “expelled from the U.S. women’s basketball team and fined $1 million,” per the SpaceXMania story, because she “publicly criticized her teammate Caitlin Clark”:
Reese voiced her displeasure with what she saw as Clark receiving special treatment in a post-game interview. “It feels like Caitlin gets all the attention and praise, while the rest of us work just as hard,” Reese said. “I’m sick of being disregarded. The success of the squad is a result of all of us.”
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The management of the U.S. women’s basketball team made the decision to act decisively, highlighting the need of unity and respect for one another.
The team management provided an official statement outlining their choice. “We want to create a supportive and cohesive atmosphere among the team members. Critiquing colleagues in public goes against this objective and shatters the unity we work so hard to uphold. Angel Reese was thus kicked off the team and given a $1 million fine for her activities.”
USA Basketball announced their 12-player team for the July 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on June 11, 2024. Despite having had outstanding debut seasons in the WNBA, neither Reese nor Clark, 22, were in the starting lineup.
Reese flagrantly fouled Clark during a WNBA game in mid-June. Clark was trying to make a jumper when he was hit in the head by an arm. Referencing the event as a “basketball play,” Reese said in a post-game interview that she “can’t control the refs, they affected the game obviously a lot tonight.”
Following her team’s defeat over the Indiana Fever the day before, Reese was fined $1,000 by the WNBA for breaking the rules of media conduct. This announcement was made at the beginning of June 2024. Reese neglected “to make herself available to the media for interviews,” as stated in a WNBA news release, as reported by CBS Sports.
Satire pages such as SpaceXMania frequently target Reese and Clark, with their content being misconstrued as actual news.
It is plainly stated on the website that Reese’s comments about Clark resulted to her expulsion from the U.S. women’s basketball team and a $1 million fine. For this reason, the assertion that Reese made about Clark is categorized as “Labeled Satire.”
