BREAKING: WNBA player Angel Reese was kicked off the U.S. women’s basketball team and fined $1 million for comments she made about Caitlin Clark. Full details in comments
Image courtesy of SpaceXMania & The Patriots Lovers/Facebook
Claim:
WNBA player Angel Reese was kicked off the U.S. women’s basketball team and fined $1 million for comments she made about Caitlin Clark.
Rating:
On June 18, 2024, the Facebook account The Patriots Lovers claimed that WNBA star Angel Reese was kicked off the U.S. team and faced a $1 million fine for comments she made about fellow WNBA player Caitlin Clark:
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(The Patriots Lovers/Facebook)
This claim was not true. The Facebook page that posted the allegation describes itself as a “Satire/Parody” account that specializes “in SATIRE, Humor and Extra Crispy Tates.”
The Facebook post originated from a story published the same day, June 18, 2024, on SpaceXMania, a website that explicitly describes most of its output as “satirical in nature” and “not meant to be taken seriously,” including this claim
In a post-game interview, Reese expressed frustration with what she perceived as preferential treatment toward Clark. “It feels like Caitlin gets all the attention and praise, while the rest of us work just as hard,” Reese remarked. “I’m tired of being overlooked. We all contribute to the team’s success.”
…
The U.S. women’s basketball team management, emphasizing the need for cohesion and mutual respect, decided to take decisive action.
In an official statement, the team management explained their decision. “Our goal is to foster a positive and unified environment within the team. Publicly criticizing teammates undermines this goal and disrupts the harmony we strive to maintain.
As a result, Angel Reese has been removed from the team and fined $1 million for her actions.”
On June 11, 2024, USA Basketball officially unveiled its 12-player roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, scheduled to begin in July 2024.
The roster announcement immediately became a major topic of conversation across the basketball world, not only because of the star power included, but also because of two notable absences.
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, both 22 years old and among the most talked-about rookies in the WNBA, were not selected.
Their exclusion drew attention since both players had entered the league with enormous hype, collegiate accolades, and strong early professional performances that translated into ticket sales, television ratings, and social media buzz for the WNBA.
Many fans expected that at least one of them might make the Olympic team due to their popularity and impact on the sport’s visibility.
However, USA Basketball traditionally prioritizes experience, international play, and team fit when constructing Olympic rosters.
As a result, the final lineup leaned heavily toward veteran players with prior USA Basketball experience.
Still, debate continued online, with some supporters arguing that Reese and Clark represented the future of the sport and could have benefited from Olympic exposure, while others agreed with the decision to rely on proven veterans for a high-stakes international tournament.
Around the same period, a mid-June WNBA game between Reese’s and Clark’s teams intensified public discussion about the two rookies.
During that game, Reese committed a flagrant foul against Clark, making contact with her head while Clark was in the act of shooting.
The play was replayed widely on social media and sports broadcasts, fueling polarized reactions among fans.
Some viewed it as overly aggressive, while others considered it a routine physical play common in professional basketball.
In her post-game comments, Reese described the incident as simply a “basketball play” and noted that officiating decisions were beyond her control, adding that referees influenced the game significantly that night.
Her remarks themselves became part of the broader conversation about competitiveness and sportsmanship in the league.
Soon after, in early June 2024, the WNBA fined Reese $1,000 following her team’s loss to the Indiana Fever. The fine was not related to on-court conduct but to media obligations.
According to a league news release, and as reported by CBS Sports, Reese failed to make herself available for required post-game interviews, which violates WNBA media rules.
Such fines are standard when players do not fulfill media responsibilities, though in Reese’s case the timing added more attention given the already heightened spotlight on her.
Complicating matters further, both Reese and Clark have frequently been featured in viral posts and parody stories from satire pages such as SpaceXMania.
Content from these pages is designed for humor and exaggeration, yet it is sometimes mistaken for legitimate reporting when shared without context.
This led to the spread of a false claim that Reese had been expelled from the U.S. women’s national team and fined $1 million for comments about Clark.
Because this rumor originated from a source that explicitly labels its content as satirical, fact-checkers rated the claim as “Labeled Satire.”
In other words, it was never real news but a humorous fabrication that some audiences misunderstood as factual.
