Breanna Stewart Blasts WNBA Commissioner for Comments on Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese

The arrival of Caitlin Clark , Angel Reese and their already established rivalry on the WNBA stage has created both an explosion in the popularity of the league as well as pitfalls for those who participate in it.

Most recently, it was Commissioner Cathy Engelbert who fell into one during an appearance on the CNBC program "Power Lunch" Monday, September 9. A host asked Engelbert a question about the element of race in the Clark-Reese dynamic, specifically in the context of the fan bases of each woman and how they interact with one another.

The WNBA players are really looked at now as kind of cultural icons. And when you have that, you have a lot of attention on you. There’s no more apathy. Everybody cares.

It is a little bit of that [Larry] Bird - Magic [Johnson] moment, if you recall, from 1979. When those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry -- one white, one black. And so we have that moment with these two.

But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch, They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.

New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart , a two-time champion and two-time league MVP, blasted the commissioner's answer following her team's game against the Dallas Wings Tuesday night.

To be honest, I saw the interview today, and ... I think that it’s disappointing to hear. Because the way that the fans have surged, especially behind Caitlin and Angel coming to this league, but also bringing, like, a race aspect to a different level. There’s no place for that in our sport. I think that’s really what it is.

We want our sport to be inclusive for race, for gender, and really be a place where people can be themselves. We wish Cathy would have used her platform in a different way and [would] have made that a little bit better. Just telling the fans enough is enough. Become a fan of our sport and, for the new ones, lock in on everybody. But don’t be disrespectful, because as a league we stick together and there’s no place for that.

Clark and Reese have both played well and set numerous records during their respective rookie campaigns, and each woman figures to be a prominent face of the WNBA for years to come.