Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark have become two of the most famous basketball players in America. Photograph: Jeff Haynes/NBAE/Getty Images

The Lakers legend sees parallels between the WNBA rookies and the rivalry that defined his career. Both relationships have plenty to say about America itself

In the 1970s, the NBA was sputtering. Playoff games were on tape-delay. Many of the league’s teams were in debt, baseball was still firmly America’s game and lesser-known small market franchises were winning titles. But then an influx of talent changed the entire operation. The 1979-80 NBA season saw rookies Magic Johnson and Larry Bird explode on to the scene with the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, respectively. But even then, the two were known quantities and so, too, was their budding rivalry. It all began in college the year prior. The 1979 NCAA title game featured Johnson’s Michigan State team defeating Bird’s Indiana State in what is still the most-watched basketball game ever in the US. It was a matchup that featured Magic’s flash and charisma against Bird’s quiet genius. Two skilled passers making their teams better. Fast-forward 45 years and history is repeating itself, this time with the WNBA’s Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Just ask Magic himself.

“Larry and I heightened the NBA’s overall popularity,” Johnson wrote on X on Monday. “The Lakers and Celtics sold out arenas throughout the league and increased television viewership exponentially. The higher viewership numbers led to the NBA signing significantly larger TV contracts which then led to higher salaries for the players. Caitlin and Angel are now doing the same thing, selling out arenas and increasing the viewership.”

The parallels between the Magic/Bird and Reese/Clark rivalry are many, starting with a matchup in the NCAA championship round. Reese and Clark faced off in 2023 in the title game as the former’s LSU Tigers played against the latter’s Iowa Hawkeyes. The event broke viewing records, too, becoming the most-watched women’s college basketball ever, drawing nearly 10m pairs of eyeballs. But unlike Magic and Bird’s contest, the one between Reese and Clark included some excellent trash talk. Reese taunted Clark, who became the NCAA’s highest scoring player ever in 2024, pointing to her finger to let Clark know who got the championship ring. Ever since then, the two have been must-see TV on their own, but especially when matched up together.

“They have taken women’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV deals on the horizon,” added Magic on X, “the WNBA is now in a position to negotiate higher TV contracts and increase salaries for all of the talented players.” (Not only that, but the Las Vegas Aces with star A’ja Wilson are selling out games left and right. The rising tide lifts all boats.)

On Sunday, Reese and Clark matched up in the WNBA for their latest head-to-head bout, as Clark’s Indiana Fever fell to Reese’s Chicago Sky on the road, 88-87. Clark scored 17 points to go along with six rebounds and 13 assists. But Reese had the bigger stat-line, scoring 25 points with 16 rebounds and continuing her streak of consecutive double-doubles. After the game, Reese, whose team was down by 15 points before making a stirring comeback, touted her strength and confidence, saying, “I’m a dog. You can’t teach that.” Their two teams next play on 30 August, in what could be a game to decide playoff implications.

“I think rivalries are great in sports,” hall of famer Nancy Lieberman, a former WNBA player, coach and executive, tells the Guardian. “Larry and Magic, [Tom] Brady and [Peyton] Manning, Martina [Navratilova] and Chris [Evert] – rivalries are healthy and they create excitement for fans. Why shouldn’t we look at these two players who have enormous talent, who came out with huge fan bases? There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Lieberman, who has an NCAA award named after her for the country’s top point guard, which Clark has won multiple times, was such a good player in her day that she was known as “Lady Magic.” When the WNBA’s first season began in 1997, the Brooklyn-born baller was the league’s oldest player at 39 and in 2008, at the age of 50, she signed a contract to play with the Detroit Shock. All of which is to say, she’s seen a thing or two in basketball. And with that experienced eye, she says she agrees with Johnson’s assessment of Reese and Clark’s rivalry.

“Every point that somebody could throw at it, they have,” Lieberman says. “From race, from playing each other in college, being approximately the same age and playing in the ‘W’ – oh my God, this is going to be 15-18 year’s worth of fun. They’re so good.”

Like Clark and Reese, Magic and Bird played different positions, meaning they rarely guarded each other on court. Both rivalries are really about the players’ overall impact on the game, and society in general. And when it came to Magic and Bird, their rivalry seemed ordained. Magic, with his million-dollar smile, played in a city full of film stars. Bird with his quiet demeanor played a continent’s width away in the slightly less glitzy Boston.

We caught the imagination of everyone in America,” Johnson once said of the rivalry. “People wanted to see us play against one another … If you like competition you want to play against the best, and that’s what we wanted to do.”

But while Reese and Clark’s teams are in the Midwest (Reese plays in the city Michael Jordan made famous and Clark plays in Bird’s home state), their rivalry has parallels. Bird and Magic became very wealthy men, partly due to their playing skills and partly due to the fame their rivalry fueled. And while Reese and Clark do not earn anywhere near the salaries Magic and Bird pulled in – both women will be paid less than $75,000 by their teams this season – they have signed lucrative endorsement deals. Clark and Reese were earning millions in endorsements while still in college, and those sums have only increased now they are professional: Clark has reportedly signed a $28m deal with Nike.

And while America’s rampant commercialism has benefited all four players, there are other aspects of the US that have had more sinister effects on their lives. Both rivalries pit a Black player against a white player, something that has been inevitably magnified and weaponized by others in a country rife with racial divisions. And the players were, and are, forced to comment on it. Magic and Bird refused to stir up those tensions, and there are signs Reese and Clark want nothing to do with it either. “People should not be using my name to push those agendas. It’s disappointing. It’s not acceptable,” Clark said earlier this month.

Those comments came after many Black and gay players in the WNBA were abused on social media by those who believe Clark has been targeted due to her race (the reality is far more nuanced). Clark had initially stayed silent before Connecticut Sun guard, DiJonai Carrington, who is Black, had addressed her on X: “Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts. We all see the sh*t. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury.”

While people also turned Magic and Bird’s skin color into weapons, Lieberman believes the situation is more intense for Clark and Reese.

“Martina and Chris, Larry and Magic,” says Lieberman, “they didn’t have to deal with social media. I think it’s really harder on [Angel and Caitlin]. Total strangers have an opinion and are entitled to it, apparently. You have to shut out the noise of the people who have an influence on your life. It doesn’t mean that you’re not appreciative of fans, but you also have to stay true to your own values. Most fans have never been in your shoes.”

Xavier McDaniel, who played against Magic and Bird, in the late 1980s, also sees similarities.

“[Clark and Reese remind me of Magic and Bird] a little bit because one is Black and one is white. That’s the intriguing thing about it, I guess,” he says. “But I know the athletes don’t be looking at it like that. They’re competing and trying hard. Especially when you listen to some of the things that Caitlin Clark is saying, like, ‘I’m just out there competing.’”

And while Reese and Clark have insisted they have no personal beef with each other, they are not exactly close friends. That could change. Johnson said he began to bond with Bird when they shot a commercial together in 1985, when their playing careers were in full swing.

“Larry and I sat down for lunch, and I tell you, we figured out we’re so much alike,” Johnson said of that meeting. “We’re both from the Midwest, we grew up poor, our families [are] everything to us, basketball is everything to us. So that changed my whole outlook on Larry Bird.”

Lieberman expects great things of the Clark-Reese rivalry, even if they do not become as close as Magic and Bird. But no one wins a championship alone. Johnson played with hall of famers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and James Worthy. While Bird laced up his sneakers alongside his own collection of all-time greats in Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Dennis Johnson. Hall of famers were everywhere in those Celtic-Lakers games. As a result, the two met in the NBA finals three times and at least one of their franchises played in every championship series in the 1980s. After Magic and Bird arrived, the NBA stopped putting finals games on tape delay. And while Bird won Rookie of the Year that first season, it was Johnson who took home a title and the Finals MVP award in 1980.

“Both [Reese and Clark’s teams] are right there in the playoff picture,” says Lieberman. “So, anything is possible. It would be unbelievable for both of them to make the playoffs in their first year. But it’s not just about them. They’re the TV highlights but winning a championship will not just be about them. It will be about their teammates and how hard they can play and grow together.”