Team USA basketball coach Cheryl Reeve is facing calls to resign over a ‘stunningly bad’ conflict of interest involving WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.
Reeve is head coach of the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, but also took charge of the USA team at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris – which Clark was snubbed for, much to the surprise of fans.
In a remarkable set of resurfaced tweets, highlighted by reporter Christine Brennan, Reeve is now being slammed after appearing to take aim at Clark, who has become the face of the WNBA in recent years.
In May 2024, Reeve appeared to take issue with the amount of TV time given to Clark and the Indiana Fever when she wrote ‘The W is more than one player’.
Given Reeve’s role as head coach of Team USA, a conflict of interest issue has been raised by some, after Clark was not chosen to represent her country at the Olympics.
In a post on X, one fan wrote: ‘Cheryl Reeve is a puppet. How can anyone in good conscious speak about [Caitlin] Clark as her star player in the flipped context in which [she] does. Shameful… Resign now!’
Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve has been blasted by sports columnist Christine Brennan
The jab was over the Team USA coach’s social-media posts about Caitlin Clark last year
Another added: ‘I will never give another dime to the Lynx organization & I know I’m not alone in that.’
Meanwhile, a third said: ‘USA Basketball will be forever stained for not selecting Caitlin Clark to the 2024 Olympic team. Cheryl Reeve was tweeting about a player in the selection pool. An utter disgrace of an organization.’
Sports columnist Brennan – the author of a new book on Clark – appeared on ‘The Adam Gold Show’ this week to share her thoughts and highlight the matter.
‘How on earth is that ok with the US Olympic and Paralympic community and the USA basketball team that its coach is actively tweeting and going on social media about someone who is in the selection pool?’ Brennan began.
‘Just stunningly bad behavior by Cheryl Reeve, tweeting at and about Caitlin Clark, kind of blaming her for not having Minnesota Lynx games on TV, but only Caitlin games on TV.’
In a further X post found by DailyMail.com, an account seemingly belonging to Reeve took issue with her Minnesota Lynx not being high on ESPN’s season preview ‘power rankings’.
Brennan, who is not without controversy, has an upcoming book on Clark and her impact
Reeve responded to a post listing the Indiana Fever in the top three with a message that read: ‘This. Is. A. Choice. #LynxDontFitTheNarrative.’
Officially, Reeve was not on the selection committee to decide the 12-woman Olympic roster. Yet, she is the coach of the team and had the final say on which players took to the court in Paris.
Brennan is the author of the upcoming book, ‘On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports’, which chronicles the Fever point guard’s professional career to date.
The columnist herself has not put pen to paper on the novel without ruffling a few feathers herself.
Last year, she was at the center of a scandal when she asked DiJonai Carrington if she had deliberately poked Caitlin Clark in the eye during Game 1 of the first round playoff series between the Sun and Fever.
When Carrington denied having any malicious intent, Brennan followed up by asking if Carrington and her teammate Marina Mabrey had laughed about it afterwards – a notion that Carrington also disapproved of.
Clark was slammed to the ground in her latest game against the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday
The WNBA players union filed a complaint seeking Brennan losing her credentials to cover the league, while the columnist also filed a complaint against now-Clark teammate DeWanna Bonner after she was approached by the former Sun star about her line of questioning.
Clark’s position as the face of the WNBA was highlighted once again on Tuesday night after she was shoved to the ground by Connecticut Sun rival Marina Mabrey.
The simmering tension boiled over during the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup clash between the Sun and the Fever, which Clark and her teammates won with ease.
Clark and Suns player Jacy Sheldon were initially caught in a feisty exchange, with the Fever star firing off a volatile message to further stoke the feud.
‘I can do whatever the f*** I want to do,’ Clark said to Sheldon before shoving her away.
Sheldon’s teammate, Mabrey, quickly stepped in and gave a small shove to Clark as she walked away from the confrontation. No technical fouls were called on that exchange.
However, the explosive game escalated to a shocking level in the second half when Sheldon appeared to jab Clark in the eye. In defense, the Fever star retaliated by giving shield a nudge away from her only for Mabrey stepped in again, this time, slamming Clark to the ground.
Clark’s teammates, including Lexie Hull, got into it with Mabrey, as the Fever phenom picked herself up off the hardwood.
Clark’s position as the face of the WNBA appears to rile many other players in the league
Clark and Sun post player Tina Charles were given dueling technical fouls, as well as Mabrey receiving her own technical.
In the aftermath of the game, Sheldon was strongly criticized on social media, with Dave Portnoy even claiming she should be kicked out of the WNBA.
‘Marina Mabrey is a jealous loser punk,’ Portnoy wrote on X. ‘Asks to be traded on every single team she’s on until she’s on worst team in the league and completely irrelevant unless she’s cheap shorting Caitlin. Go play in rec league where nobody gives a s*** about you.
‘Imagine not kicking Marina Mabrey out after she assaults the face of the league? Just a common tech? Sick league @WNBA Also shouldn’t have been a tech on Caitlin since that girl got in her face after gouging her eyes.’