Two of the WNBA’s newest stars started their pro careers on Sunday with the opening of training camps across the league.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese took the court for the first time with their new teams — the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, respectively — as a new era begins for the WNBA.
Clark and Reese are part of the reason for the skyrocketing interest in women’s hoops over the past few years.
Both women were introduced to their new markets in recent weeks, and Clark said she enjoyed all the pomp and circumstance of the draft but was excited to “get back to playing basketball.”
Clark also emphasized that her main priority this season is to help her team win.
“I think no matter what happens there’s going to be expectations and pressure on my shoulders and pressure on this team to be really good. That’s how you want it,” Clark said, according to the Associated Press. “We wouldn’t want anything else. We want people showing up to our games, people expecting us to win a lot of basketball games this year and I’m expecting myself to play really well. I don’t think it’s anything that’s ever been different for me.”
Reese posted a photo of herself following her first day of training camp.
“Great first day of training camp! Love it here,” she captioned it on her Instagram story.
In an interview with Chicago State of Mind Sports, Reese joked that her first WNBA practice “wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
Clark, now arguably the biggest name in women’s basketball, had a historic season for Iowa and was part of three separate NCAA Tournament games that set new viewership records for the sport.
Reese was a big draw as well for LSU and helped the Tigers reach the Elite Eight this past season and win a national championship in 2023.
Reese averaged 18.3 points per game in 2023 for LSU while shooting 47.1 percent from the field.