Many comparisons have been made between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s impact on the NBA in the early 1980s and Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark’s impact on the WNBA today.
Johnson and Bird elevated the NBA to new heights because of their unparalleled talent and contentious head-to-head matchups, which began in college. The 1979 NCAA championship game, in which Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans beat Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores, is still the most-watched college game ever, with 35.11 million viewers.
On Monday, Johnson brought new relevance to the comparison by sharing his thoughts on Reese and Clark on social media.
“When I think about [Clark] and [Reese’s] impact on the game, they remind me a lot of [Bird] and me,” Johnson said.
Johnson commended Reese’s “dominant” performance Sunday, when she recorded her eighth consecutive double-double, finishing with 25 points and 16 rebounds. It was the first time a rookie had recorded 25 or more points and 15 or more rebounds in a game since two-time MVP and two-time WNBA champion A’ja Wilson in 2018.
Reese and Clark, both 22, were born over two decades after Johnson and Bird squared off for the first time in the NCAA Tournament. Reese shared Tuesday that she has never watched either play. She did, however, make one thing clear.
“People can like me and Caitlin,” Reese told the Sun-Times. “It’s not like you can’t like both, but I love that we have fans from both sides. Everybody came to the game, not just to see us two, but our entire team.”
While many pundits have attempted to paint the competitive fire between Reese and Clark as dislike, both have repeatedly said that isn’t the case. That might be the greatest distinction between both sets of players.
Johnson shared on “The Dan Patrick Show” last year that he and Bird hated each other in the beginning.
“I had to hate him because they beat us,” Johnson said.
Many have credited the rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics in the ’80s for having saved the NBA.
From 1980 to ’89, the Lakers and/or the Celtics played in the NBA Finals. The teams went head-to-head in three, with Johnson’s Lakers earning a 2-1 championship edge over Bird’s Celtics.
Johnson finished his career with an 11-8 record over Bird in the playoffs.
In his post Monday, Johnson described how the rivalry between himself and Bird catapulted the NBA, leading to sold-out arenas, increased viewership and, eventually, better media-rights deals.
Fifteen of the Fever’s 18 games this season have been sellouts, including all three against the Sky. The first two were played in front of 17,274 at Gainbridge Arena in Indianapolis.
The game Sunday was the Sky’s third sellout this year, with 9,872 fans in attendance.
The WNBA makes $60 million annually from its media-rights package, which expires after the 2025 season. The league is in joint negotiations with the NBA for its next deal. According to multiple reports, the WNBA could quadruple its media-rights fees to $240 million annually.
Sky and Fever players have been hesitant to call what’s budding between the teams a rivalry. Ahead of the game Sunday, Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon shared those feelings, saying that neither team has done anything yet for their matchups to be considered a rivalry.
But after practice Tuesday, she backed Johnson’s take on Reese and Clark’s impact.
“Magic knows how much I love him,” Weatherspoon said. “He knows I respect what he says, and I stand on what he says.”
