“Ask Her for Advice All the Time”: After Her Angel Reese Admission, Flau’jae Johnson Reveals Relationship With Caitlin Clark

There’s been no bigger storyline in women’s basketball over the last few years than the rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. The two famously met in the 2023 national championship game, with Reese and the LSU Tigers prevailing over Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. One year later Clark got revenge in the Elite Eight, before losing to the UConn Huskies, but the rivalry has only become more intense since they got to the WNBA.

As unfortunately happens far too often these days, bad actors have used the Clark-Reese rivalry to start a culture war and bring race into the equation in a negative way. At its heart, however, this is just a good old-fashioned “I don’t like you, you don’t like me, let’s give it everything we’ve got on the court” type of rivalry that’s reminiscent of the way millions of people remember Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Though there is obviously a shared simmering dislike on the court, both women have downplayed any bad blood through the press. That hasn’t stopped the media from running with the story, though, and the latest development is only going to send things into overdrive.

Flau’jae Johnson, who played with Reese at LSU and was a major part of that title-winning team, recently said that she and Reese are no longer close. “We’re not friends, but I mean that bond that we had, that thing that we did together, winning a national championship, you can never take that away from us,” Johnson said. “And so sometimes stuff happens, you wish it don’t happen but it do. And you just gotta grow.”

People grow apart all the time and this echoed what Reese said on her Unapologetically Angel podcast back in September. While it’s a little sad, it’s nothing too newsworthy. Though both Reese and Johnson said that they still wished each other the best despite no longer being close, Johnson has become close with their shared former opponent.

Johnson said that she texts Clark to “ask her for advice all the time,” and she even name-dropped the Fever sharpshooter in her single “Help Me,” which debuted last month, rapping, “Double-C on my jacket like Caitlin Clark.”

Clark has returned the love in her own way by telling USA Today, “I’ve honestly been a big fans of hers since we played them at LSU.” This proves that although those LSU-Iowa games were extremely competitive, there’s still a healthy dose of respect and admiration that flows both ways, at least for some.

Clark’s Fever destroyed Reese’s Sky to open the WNBA season 93-58, with Clark dropping 20 points while also being called for a flagrant foul on Reese in the third quarter. This prompted a WNBA investigation into allegations of racial abuse by fans after said foul.

The two teams met again on Saturday, with thankfully far less fireworks. The Fever won again in a lopsided one, this time by 27. Even more impressively, they did it without Clark, who’s still on the shelf with a left quad strain that she suffered nearly three weeks ago.

The Fever have stayed afloat without their star player, as they’ve now won two straight games to get to 4-4 on the season. They expect Clark to return from her injury soon, but they won’t have a chance to play the Sky again until late July.

Johnson, on the other hand, will finish another year at LSU before entering a star-studded WNBA draft featuring herself, JuJu Watkins, and Lauren Betts.