Traditionally, a matinee matchup between two struggling WNBA teams has never been considered must-see TV. But with wildly popular rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese in action, Sunday’s Indiana Fever (4-10) game against the Chicago Sky (4-8) in Indianapolis is now appointment viewing.

Their last meeting drew a reported 1.5 million viewers on June 1 as Clark’s Fever beat Reese’s Sky, 71-70. And that audience figure could be dwarfed on Sunday thanks to the lingering controversy over Sky guard Chennedy Carter’s controversial hip check foul on Clark two weeks ago.

The unwarranted collision outraged fans of the former Iowa Hawkeyes star, who saw the incident as proof of an anti-Clark bias within the league. Meanwhile, Clark’s critics objected to the performative fury from media, many of whom spent the ensuing days slamming Carter.

Clark didn’t appreciate the foul (‘that’s just not a basketball play,’ she said afterwards), but she doesn’t think Carter owes her an apology either. Nor does she care to discuss the opinions of pundits, who argued that Clark is somehow being targeted for not being black or gay.

Thursday Clark said she tries to stay away from such conversations, but admitted it was ‘disappointing’ to see her name used to promote racist and sexist beliefs.

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese first met as pros on June 1 as the Indiana Fever pulled out the win

Chennedy Carter (left) and Angel Reese (right) speak to media after the controversial foul

‘Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect,’ Clark said Thursday. ‘The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect.

‘People should not be using my name for those agendas. It’s disappointing. It’s not acceptable.’

As she’s always done, Clark has tuned out the noise to focus on basketball – something that has become considerably harder at the professional level. Truthfully, through their first month in the WNBA, Reese’s rookie campaign compares favorably with her old college rival.

Entering Sunday, Reese was averaging a solid 12.2 points a night, while ranking among the league leaders in both rebounds (10 a game) and steals (1.8 a game).

Clark’s rookie season has been impressive in its own right. The former Iowa star entered Friday 17th in scoring at 15.6 points a game and ranking fourth in assists at 6.0 per night.

But Clark’s famed long-range shooting has suffered with the Fever, as she’s made fewer than a third of her attempts from distance.

And her defensive performance has been even more concerning.

Things may have been at their worst on Monday when the Fever were outscored by 22 points while Clark was on the court. Ultimately coach Christie Sides was forced to pull Clark before slamming the Fever’s effort in the 89-72 loss to the Connecticut Sun.

‘You can’t, at this level, coach effort,’ Sides said of her team after the game. ‘I felt like we were just asking them to keep playing hard.’

Angel Reese explains why she will continue to be the WNBA’s ‘bad guy’

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Angel Reese (left) and Caitlin Clark (right) are seen before the Sky-Fever game on June 1

Clark and Reese have been rivals since Reese taunted Clark at the 2023 national championship

For many, it’s been difficult to reconcile the media attention and endorsement deals for Clark during an up-and-down rookie season.

And to Reese, who many have painted as the villain to Clark’s protagonist, the WNBA owes its recent success to more than just her fellow rookie.

‘I’ll take the bad guy role and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates,’ said Reese, who has been targeted for everything from her appearance to her physical play. ‘I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ”The reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too.” I want y’all to realize that.’

Reese, a social media sensation known as ‘Bayou Barbie,’ is certainly right about the WNBA’s increased popularity.

Attendance spiked 17 percent from last season and more than half of WNBA games this year have been sellouts – an increase of 156 percent from 2023. Meanwhile, merchandise sales are up 756 percent at the league’s website, while subscriptions to WNBA’s streaming service have spiked 335 percent.

But just how much credit the ‘other’ WNBA rookie deserves is an open debate.

Some, like conservative podcaster Jason Whitlock, want to give all the credit to Clark.

‘No one is tuning in to watch Angel Reese,’ Whitlock told his podcast audience earlier this month. ‘It’s just not happening.’

But proving Whitlock’s point isn’t so easy.

Yes, Iowa’s Elite Eight win over LSU in April and the Hawkeyes’ 2023 NCAA championship defeat to the Tigers rank among the most watched games in the history of women’s basketball.

But both Clark and Reese played in those tournament games, making such a comparison difficult, if not impossible. And for that matter, it’s hard to say if Clark is solely responsible for the record ratings the WNBA generated at its April draft, when Reese went seventh overall to the Sky.

Sunday’s game won’t do much to settle this debate, but it can serve to push the conversation away from controversy and back to basketball.

And with Clark riding a two-game winning streak over Reese as the Fever and Sky try to claw their way into the WNBA playoff picture, nothing can be more important than that.