Cheryl Reeve won a gold medal at the Olympics without Caitlin Clark after being extremely cold toward the superstar rookie during the months leading up to Paris.

She got her first opportunity for revenge on Saturday night and evened the score with help from an inconsistent group of WNBA officials.

However, the 57-year-old actually gave the 22-year-old her flowers before getting the win!
GETTY IMAGE
Reeve was very adamant during the selection process that Clark did not deserve to play for Team USA during her first season as a pro. There was some validity to the decision at the time, because the No. 1 overall pick didn’t play particularly well to begin the year, but she has quickly emerged as one of the best players in the league over the last few months and the United States clearly lacked shooters while in France. The real issue was the head coach’s attitude while addressing the roster move.

Reeve was extremely sassy when asked about Clark. She was short and bitter, even after getting humbled during a loss to the Indiana Fever and then a loss to the WNBA All-Star team.

Although Team USA got the job done, Reeve should not return as head coach in 2028. Caitlin Clark, Juju Watkins, Angel Reese, Cam Brink and Paige Bueckers will presumably be on the squad and they would be better served by a change in leadership.

Nevertheless, Reeve won a gold medal with the best roster in the world as expected. Credit where credit is due!

Cheryl Reeve also changed her tune on Caitlin Clark.

The Minnesota Lynx hosted the Indiana Fever on Saturday night after losing the first matchup on the road right before the Olympic break. Believe it or not, Reeve actually had kind words for Clark before tipoff. It was, by far, the nicest thing she has said about the league’s biggest star to date.

Perhaps karma was in her favor?

Reeve lost twice to Clark before the Olympics while being disrespectful— once with the Lynx and once with Team USA. Minnesota settled the score at 1-1 on Saturday after the pregame praise. It actually clinched a playoff birth with its sixth-straight win.
Clark did her best to lead Indiana to victory and broke some ankles (figuratively) in the process.

The greatest shooter in college basketball history finished with a team-high 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds. In doing so, she became the fastest player in WNBA history to record more than 500 points and 200 assists.

Unfortunately, the officials did not do Clark any favors.

This was called a foul for the Lynx:

This was not called a foul for the Fever:

To be fair, neither play necessarily warrants a whistle. However, the inconsistency when it comes to Caitlin Clark is hard to ignore. It happens every game.

Nevertheless, Indiana dropped to 13-16. Cheryl Reeve got one back!